


1+1=Oh Sehun

by London9Calling



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, High School, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2015-12-02
Packaged: 2018-05-04 12:30:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5334188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/London9Calling/pseuds/London9Calling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyungsoo has a love hate relationship with windows.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for [a strong breeze round 2015.](http://astrongbreeze.livejournal.com/)

Architects are assholes. Okay, maybe not architects. Maybe athletic planning committees or the school board or whoever thought it was a genius idea to stick a football field within perfect view of a classroom. Whoever that was, they were Do Kyungsoo’s enemy.  
  
“Do Kyungsoo, would you like to solve the problem on the board?” Mrs. Oh, she was an enemy too.  
  
“I am sure he would _love to_ ,” Baekhyun snickered. Baekhyun was also an enemy.  
  
Another enemy, perhaps the worst of all, was clearly visible out the large classroom window. Enemy #1 was currently jogging slowly around the field, a lazy run that did nothing but show off how well his long legs carried him. He was taking it slow, like he always did, though one would never know it given the way he played. A star, ready for a full scholarship when the time came. Kyungsoo glared. Enemy #1 was such an effective enemy.  
  
“Do Kyungsoo!” Mrs. Oh raised her voice a level to that pitch where everyone knew she was getting seriously annoyed. “The board!”  
  
“On the board?” Kyungsoo finally answered, looking away from the window. His eyes widened as he stared at his math teacher, questioning, imploring – begging for mercy.  
  
“Yes, as in the giant board in the front of the classroom you are sitting in. The giant board that you should have been paying attention to for the last half an hour.” Mrs. Oh smiled that sweet innocent smile that Kyungsoo knew hid her evil math teacher mind, a direct countermeasure to her heightened tones and short words.  
  
Kyungsoo’s chair squeaked against the linoleum flooring as he stood, walking slowly to the front of the classroom. He hated this, having all eyes on him. And all eyes were currently on him, his classmates watching as he dragged his feet, painfully slow, making his way towards the chalkboard. A few of his classmates snickered, Kyungsoo didn’t have to guess who the ones laughing were.  
  
A foreign language greeted him, all x and y and formulas and other mumbo jumbo already filling the chalkboard. Kyungsoo didn’t speak this language, not fluently, at least not this year. In his sophomore year, even his junior year he recalled speaking this language at least conversationally. Not now though, not since he took a seat near the window.  
  
He picked up the piece of yellow chalk. Raising it to the board, he did the only thing he could think to do. He wrote a large question mark, his own attempt at this strange form of communication passing through what was already written there.  
  
The class burst out laughing.  
  
“I hope you like detention, Mr. Do.” Mrs. Oh shook her head, disappointed but not surprised.  
  
Kyungsoo remained silent, knowing full well it wasn’t worth arguing. Disagreement would only earn more detention. Plus the room where detention was held didn’t have a view of the football field.  
  
  
  
  
  
“Hey Kyungsoo!”  
  
Kyungsoo ignored Chanyeol, preferring to pretend he was doing homework instead. Of course he wasn’t really doing homework, just staring at the sheet of math problems while he considered his poor life choices.  
  
“Kyungsoo!”  
  
Kyungsoo started writing, gibberish really. Best to look busy.  
  
“Kyungsoo!”  
  
Still writing.  
  
“Kyungsoo! Kyungsoo! Kyungsoo! Kyungsoo! Kyungsoo!”  
  
“What?!” Kyungsoo snapped his head back, glaring.  
  
“What is so interesting outside the window?” Chanyeol grinned. “Is it Sehun?”  
  
“No!” Kyungsoo returned to his math problems. Why, of all the people in the school, did the most annoying ones always seem to be the most perceptive?  
  
“Sehun is pretty cute but I doubt his mom likes you ignoring her class so you can stare at her son,” Chanyeol teased.  
  
Kyungsoo ignored him. So what if it was the truth. It wasn’t that Kyungsoo wanted to be so…enraptured by Sehun. It wasn’t like he had planned it this way. It just happened. The first day of his senior math class he sat by the window, honestly paying attention to what Mrs. Oh had to say. Then he made the mistake of looking out the window.  
  
Oh Sehun was a junior, a year below Kyungsoo. He was handsome, tall, outgoing, and popular. He was everything that Kyungsoo wasn’t. He was everything Kyungsoo usually avoided in crushes or…well, he was just something to avoid. Yet Kyungsoo couldn’t look away. The way Sehun ran around the field, practicing, his long legs and broad shoulders and – Kyungsoo was becoming a downright pervert.  
  
“Another detention for ogling Sehun?” Jongdae dropped his backpack on the desk next to Kyungsoo, chuckling. Kyungsoo didn’t confirm or deny.  
  
“Yep. He was pretty bad today,” Chanyeol piped up.  
  
“I thought he was going to jump through the window,” Baekhyun chimed in.  
  
Kyungsoo sighed. “What did you three do?”  
  
“Chanyeol put a mouse in the teachers’ lounge and blamed us,” Jongdae explained. Kyungsoo wasn’t surprised. The three of them – Jongdae, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun – were usually in trouble for one thing or another. They were loud, proud, and well, hyper. The odd thing was that Kyungsoo didn’t dislike them. No, he actually considered them close friends. The four of them had gone to elementary school together, attended middle school together and suffered their awkward phases in tandem, and then trudged through high school as peers.  
  
On weekends Kyungsoo went to Chanyeol’s house, Baekhyun and Jongdae never far behind. While Kyungsoo was more reserved and generally better with his academics (barring his math class) than the other three, they meshed well. They made an odd quartet, yet Kyungsoo was happy to have friends that were, well, different than he was in some ways. In other ways they were so similar it was scary.  
  
“Eyes on your assignments.” Mrs. Oh entered the room, her stern words affecting the four. It was only the four of them in detention, which again was not a huge surprise.  
  
After an hour sitting in silence Mrs. Oh called an end to the detention period, the four young men rushing through the door.  
  
“Anyone up for some Diablo?” Baekhyun asked as they walked towards their lockers.  
  
“With you, no.” Jongdae pushed Baekhyun playfully. “How much have you leveled up your character already? To level 100.”  
  
“It only goes to level 70. Geez.” Baekhyun laughed.  
  
“Still,” Jongdae slammed his locker door shut, “I am not playing with someone who is twice as powerful as my character.”  
  
“Soo, up for some gaming?” Baekhyun turned to his next victim.  
  
“No. I think I am going to watch movies tonight.” Kyungsoo gathered up his backpack.  
  
“Another depressing movie marathon? Have fun.” Baekhyun snorted.  
  
Kyungsoo would protest the descriptor of _depressing movie marathon_ however it wasn’t really an incorrect statement. He liked to watch sad documentaries, emotionally charged dramas, and anything else that would have him reaching for a box of tissues and lying awake at night considering the question that was humanity.  
  
“Oh…” Chanyeol gasped, the other three boys staring down the hall at whatever had startled him.  
  
Kyungsoo gulped. The afternoon sun was filtering through the large windows on either side of the metal doors, playing on the cheap linoleum floors, haloing a silhouette. Broad shoulders, long legs. Oh Sehun.  
  
“I’d do him,” Baekhyun murmured, Kyungsoo glaring at him.  
  
Sehun was fast approaching and Kyungsoo wasn’t sure what to do. How to move. What to say. How to human.  
  
“Is my mom still in the classroom?” Sehun stopped a few feet from Kyungsoo, looking a bit indifferent and bored and amazing and Kyungsoo wanted to scream.  
  
“Yes,” Kyungsoo squeaked, surprised at how high pitched his voice sounded.  
  
“Thanks.” Sehun walked towards the classroom. Kyungsoo could swear he smelled a heavy, manly scent as Sehun passed him.  
  
Once the door to the classroom was shut, Sehun inside, Chanyeol started laughing. “Man, your crush on Sehun is worse than that time you wanted to marry the guy who ran the smoothie stand at the mall.”  
  
Kyungsoo punched Chanyeol in the arm, biting his bottom lip as he considered why he made such foolish life choices.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The next day Kyungsoo found his day going from bad to worse, starting at lunch.  
  
Kyungsoo tried not to stare, which was rather ironic given the fact he ended up staring a lot these days. He was seated at the lunch table, the one tucked into the corner with the well-known label of the “dork table” when he spotted Sehun’s best friend, Kim Jongin, jogging across the cafeteria.  
  
Chanyeol, Jongdae, and Baekhyun didn’t seem to notice the tall football player tearing through the room; they were engrossed in discussing their recent trade of Magic cards.  
  
Kyungsoo wondered what the junior was doing, it wasn’t his scheduled lunch period. Kyungsoo was well aware of the fact Jongin ate lunch with Sehun, at the cool kids table, the one that sat in the middle of the cafeteria (he happened to see them there one afternoon as he made a beeline for the restroom after eating Chanyeol’s homemade kimchi tuna rice burgers – which he could swear should have had a poison label on them).  
  
Jongin was standing in the middle of the cafeteria, scanning the room like he was looking for someone. When he spotted Kyungsoo, their eyes meeting for a split second before Kyungsoo quickly looked away, he approached the table.  
  
Kyungsoo swallowed hard, trying to keep calm, trying to figure out what Jongin wanted. It didn’t take long for him to find out, however, as Jongin reached the table quickly.  
  
“Do Kyungsoo?”  
  
Baekhyun, Jongdae, and Chanyeol stopped talking, staring up at Jongin like he was an alien species who had invaded their high school.  
  
“Yes?” Kyungsoo squeaked.  
  
“I found this in Mrs. Oh’s classroom and I believe it belongs to you.” Jongin held out a folded piece of paper. Kyungsoo snatched it away, realizing what it was. Jongin smirked, letting out a low laugh as he turned and left.  
  
“What in the hell was that?” Baekhyun asked, glancing from Kyungsoo to Jongin’s retreating form.  
  
“Nothing!” Kyungsoo slipped the paper in his pocket. Panic set in, followed quickly by intense embarrassment and outright horror. It wasn’t like he had thought it was a good idea at the time, but Sehun looked so – sketch worthy as he ran and Kyungsoo had a pencil in his hand and why was life so terrible?!  
  
“You didn’t…” Chanyeol narrowed his eyes at Kyungsoo.  
  
“Shut up!” Kyungsoo shoveled yogurt in his mouth, not wanting to talk about it.  
  
“Wait, what am I missing?” Jongdae nudged Chanyeol.  
  
“Kyungsoo, what is Jongdae missing?” Baekhyun crossed his arms, giving Kyungsoo a suspicious look.  
  
“Fine, I was um, sketching and well…” Kyungsoo wanted to die of embarrassment but he knew if he didn’t say anything Baekhyun and Jongdae wouldn’t drop the subject.  
  
“He was probably drawing Sehun naked or something,” Chanyeol added.  
  
“No! I wasn’t. God, I hate you guys!” Kyungsoo was done talking to his three friends, thankfully they shut up after he offered his explanation. He definitely had not drawn Sehun naked. No, he had happened to draw a tall, broad shouldered football player jogging around a field but that could have been anyone really…What if Jongin had shown it to Sehun? What if…what if ….Sehun probably knew and everything was terrible and…what if Mrs. Oh saw it and…  
  
“I am not hungry anymore.” Kyungsoo hated life.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The afternoon dragged on, Kyungsoo considering what to do if Sehun had found out about his crush. Would he have to transfer schools? Would Sehun confront him about his weirdo crush before he could fill out transfer paperwork?! Why was life so terrible and hard and stupid?! And then there was Mrs. Oh requesting Kyungsoo to drop by her classroom after his last class of the day. Maybe she was going to yell at him for sexually harassing her son by ogling him during math class. Kyungsoo was feeling close to a nervous breakdown when he walked into Mrs. Oh’s classroom – and had to hold it all in lest he collapse from fright and terror.  
  
Sehun. Oh Sehun was sitting at one of the desks, his long legs stretched out in front of him. He looked lazy and tall and…Kyungsoo hated the fact that no matter how terrified he was he couldn’t stop himself from staring.  
  
“Kyungsoo.” Mrs. Oh sounded too cheery, it made Kyungsoo nervous. The woman was probably attempting to appear accommodating and pleasant before she accused him of harassing Sehun and threatened a lawsuit, Kyungsoo knew it. “Please, sit.”  
  
Kyungsoo sat one desk length away from Sehun. Clasping his hands tightly he decided he would bear it like a man, whatever she had to say, however messy the conversation got, however many threats were hurled his way.  
  
“Kyungsoo, I asked you to drop by because I have a proposition to make.”  
  
Kyungsoo was sure his eyes had grown two sizes. Proposition? Would she tell him he had to leave the school? Was she…demanding he leave? Was she asking to settle the harassment lawsuit out of court?  
  
“Your finals are coming up and you cannot afford to fail, as I am sure you are well aware based on your midterm grade. Kyungsoo, my son Sehun has offered to tutor you. He is in college level math courses right now, in case you are going to protest his grade level.” Mrs. Oh was still being nice.  
  
Kyungsoo couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Tutoring?”  
  
“Yes. I believe that you have quite a bit to catch up on if you hope to pass this class. I know you have set your academic goals rather high, and honestly I am worried about how failing your senior mathematics course may affect your chances at gaining entry to the college of your choice.” Mrs. Oh added, “Kyungsoo, I want to help you and I think some added tutoring may be what you need to succeed.”  
  
“I…” Kyungsoo wasn’t sure how to talk, how to answer, how to –human.  
  
“It isn’t a problem for me, if you are willing,” Sehun drawled, which made Kyungsoo conjure images that fit with the word willing and suddenly he was blushing.  
  
“Sure. Yes. Fine,” Kyungsoo blurted out, wanting the entire awkward meeting to be over.  
  
“Very good, you two can work out whatever schedule works the best for you.” Mrs. Oh moved to take a seat behind her desk. “I really think this is what you need, Kyungsoo.”  
  
Kyungsoo nodded dumbly.  
  
“I am free tomorrow evening if you are. Five o’clock? We could meet here,” Sehun offered, Kyungsoo agreeing hurriedly.  
  
“I…have to go.” Kyungsoo stood up, having to consciously stop himself from running from the room. He muttered a quick thanks before retreating as quickly as he could without coming off like an even bigger weirdo.  
  
Once he was halfway down the hall he burst into a jog, not slowing down until he was in front of his locker, his breathing ragged. Baekhyun picked that moment to appear, having just finished up his latest round of detention with the science teacher Mr. Kim.  
  
“You okay there?” Baekhyun took in Kyungsoo’s disheveled appearance, his flushed face and ragged breathing and blurted out, “Did you just make out with someone?!”  
  
“No!” Kyungsoo slammed his locker shut, stomping off towards the exit. What a horrible, no good, terrible day.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The day was torturously long. Kyungsoo found his attention span nonexistent as he flitted from one class to the next. Lunch dragged on as well, Jongdae dominating the conversation as he relayed his near “would have totally been” success at asking out the cute redhead from his gym class. Kyungsoo was barely listening, Chanyeol and Baekhyun shooting him questioning looks in between making fun of Jongdae’s failed love life.  
  
Five o’clock came slowly, Kyungsoo milling around his locker after classes ended, attempting to mentally prepare himself for time alone with Sehun.  
  
“Staying late today, Soo?” Chanyeol asked, slamming his locker shut and leaning against it as he eyed Kyungsoo up and down like he could discern his secret by sight alone.  
  
“I…have tutoring.”  
  
“Tutoring? The great and mighty Kyungsoo has tutoring?” Chanyeol guffawed, Kyungsoo reaching out and landing a punch on his arm.  
  
“Ouch!” Chanyeol rubbed his arm and feigned a hurt expression. “Is it for math class?”  
  
Kyungsoo nodded, knowing full well that his friend knew that his grades were excellent in every class but Mrs. Oh’s accursed numbers-torture-horrible-hour.  
  
“Who is your tutor? Anyone I know? Anyone cute?”  
  
“I am not telling you,” Kyungsoo answered firmly.  
  
“No..NO!” Chanyeol, of course, was easy to figure out the only person Kyungsoo would care to hide as his tutor. “But he is a junior?!”  
  
“He is in advanced math class,” Kyungsoo muttered, staring at the cheap linoleum floor. “If you tell Baek and Jongdae I will kill you.”  
  
Chanyeol mimed locking his lips and throwing away the key, adding a cheesy wink. “Just remember to focus on your math, young man.”  
  
Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, deciding he was done with the conversation, and he wandered towards Mrs. Oh’s classroom. Peeking his head inside he found the classroom deserted. He was secretly relieved that he wouldn’t have to sit with Mrs. Oh in awkward silence, or worse yet engage in awkward conversation.  
  
Kyungsoo, by habit, took his seat by the window. Looking out on the field he saw that the soccer team was warming up by running laps. Finding nothing – or more accurately – no one of interest he decided to get his textbook and notes out in an attempt to appear studious when Sehun arrived. He was halfway through the latest math assignment, none of which he had solved, all of which he had decided was written in an evil foreign language, when Sehun showed up.  
  
“Working hard already, I see.” Sehun slung his backpack over the back of the desk chair, plopping down next to Kyungsoo with a thud. “Sorry if I am late.”  
  
“No problem.” Kyungsoo smiled at his paper, not bothering to look at Sehun much less the clock to confirm the younger man was actually late.  
  
Sehun pulled out a pencil and scratch paper and leaned over to look at Kyungsoo’s math homework. Kyungsoo swallowed hard, awkwardly contorting so he was as far away from Sehun as possible. He still wasn’t looking at Sehun so he missed the way Sehun raised an eyebrow at the way Kyungsoo distanced himself.  
  
“What in particular is giving you trouble?” Sehun asked, perusing the paper.  
  
“Ev..everything,” Kyungsoo managed to speak, which was sort of a huge accomplishment considering his crush was inches away from him. Sehun was so close Kyungsoo could smell his cologne, or what he assumed was cologne. It was musky and manly and Kyungsoo suddenly wanted to bury his face in Sehun’s shirt and never let go. Kyungsoo was having a definite mental conflict that he wasn’t sure he was going to overcome, at least not in the way he hoped.  
  
“Then we shall start with the beginning of everything.” Sehun motioned towards Kyungsoo’s textbook. “Can I see that? I want to give you a few problems to see exactly what you are having troubles with.”  
  
Kyungsoo handed the textbook over, accidentally making eye contact and he looked away quickly.  
  
“Are you feeling okay?”  
  
“Yes.” Kyungsoo couldn’t explain that no, he wasn’t feeling okay. He was sweating profusely and his heart was racing and he wanted to puke. That might be weird.  
  
Sehun flipped through the textbook, writing down sample problems. Kyungsoo found that as more time passed in Sehun’s company his nerves eased slightly. Focusing on the sample problems helped his state of duress even more, abetting the sick feeling in his stomach as his attention was drawn to not looking like a total idiot in front of Sehun.  
  
Kyungsoo found that Sehun was a patient tutor, correcting his mistakes with easy to understand explanations. As the minutes ticked by Kyungsoo started to feel completely at ease - as long as he didn’t make eye contact of course.  
  
“Oh, wow, I didn’t realize it was already six.” Sehun chuckled. “I was having so much fun.”  
  
“You are lying,” Kyungsoo muttered, but honestly he hadn’t realized an entire hour had passed either.  
  
“No, I am not. You are really easy to tutor. You seem to pick everything up really well.” Sehun sounded, dare Kyungsoo imagine it, excited. “Should we meet tomorrow night?”  
  
Kyungsoo nodded rapidly. Now that he was no longer focused on his math assignment his anxiety started to return.  
  
“Good, then see you around, Kyungsoo.” Sehun left first, Kyungsoo hanging back a few minutes in fear that he would somehow catch up with Sehun and be forced into a conversation he was too nervous to have.  
  
When Kyungsoo got home that evening he made a beeline for his bedroom, ignoring his younger sister’s ramblings about her day and he plopped face first onto his bed. Had he really survived an entire hour in Sehun’s company without making a total fool of himself? Maybe life wasn’t so bad after all.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The next tutoring session found Kyungsoo daring, in between problems, to sneak peeks at Sehun here and there. He had never really seen Sehun up close, or noticed how much more handsome he was when he was only inches away. The sharp line of his jaw and the way he pursed his lips when he was concentrating were beautiful, at least in Kyungsoo’s mind.  
  
Halfway through the tutoring session Sehun leaned back in his chair, sighing. “I am hungry. Do you want a snack?”  
  
“A snack?” Kyungsoo asked dumbly, as though he didn’t know the word.  
  
Sehun riffled through his backpack pulling out a bag of gummy bears. “I like sweets,” he explained as he set the bag down in the middle of the long desk. “Help yourself.”  
  
Kyungsoo was cautious as he reached forward and plucked one of the gummy candies from the bag. He liked sweets too and his stomach had started to rumble; he hadn’t eaten since lunch. He popped the candy into his mouth, relishing the sugary treat.  
  
“Hey, has anyone ever told you that your lips look like hearts. I mean, are heart shaped.” Sehun cocked his head forward to get a better look at Kyungsoo’s lips.  
  
Kyungsoo was horrified at the comment, feeling the heat rise up in his cheeks and he directed his attention towards the window. “No, no one has ever told me that.” It was a lie. Baekhyun had told him that, well – made fun of him for it. Something along the lines of, “Dude, is that like a deformity or something?”  
  
“That is cool, I mean, your lips are nice.” Sehun stopped staring and went back to the math assignment, shifting to calculations so easily that Kyungsoo was taken aback. Had he been ogling his lips?! Sehun had been ogling his lips and then went back to talking about x and y this and that like it was the most normal thing in the world to tell someone their lips are nice?! What in the fresh hell?!  
  
Kyungsoo couldn’t concentrate for the remaining twenty minutes of their tutoring session, too focused on what Sehun had said. Was it a joke or what did it mean…did it have to mean anything? Kyungsoo was so frustrated with his own inner monologue that he found himself considering how much it would hurt if he punched himself in the face. Thankfully he held back from getting in a fist fight with himself, giving Sehun the cursory nod at the suggestion they meet again on Monday.  
  
Later that evening Kyungsoo sifted through his thoughts concerning the compliment, if it could be called that. Kyungsoo decided quickly that Sehun wasn’t paying him a compliment for anything other than friendly reasons – or maybe polite reasons. They weren’t really friends, just student and tutor. The thought of Sehun liking him in any other way was laughable.  
  
Then it occurred to Kyungsoo, yet again, that his sketch of Sehun may have reached the man himself before Jongin had returned it. He found himself punching his pillow, hating life again.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“So how is tutoring with Mr.. Dreamboat going?” Chanyeol clasped his hand over his mouth as soon as he said it, realizing too late that he wasn’t supposed to be talking about Kyungsoo’s tutor in the presence of others.  
  
“Mr. Dreamboat?” Baekhyun was quick to pry, having suspected something was up with Kyungsoo for the last few days. One glance at Kyungsoo’s flushed face and Chanyeol’s look of abject terror and Baekhyun put two and two together. “Noooooo, you have to be kidding! Sehun is your math tutor?! Bahahahaha!”  
  
“Chanyeol, come here.” Kyungsoo was using his calm voice, the kind that instilled fear in his soon to be victims. Chanyeol had enough sense to run around the bench, out of reach of the small ball of fury that was intent on inflicting pain.  
  
Baekhyun watched in amusement as Kyungsoo caught Chanyeol, forcing him back down on the bench with a pinch to the back of his neck. Chanyeol let the word sorry fly half a dozen times before Kyungsoo let him go.  
  
“How have you managed to hide your hard on during your tutoring sessions?” Baekhyun took a sip of his smoothie, the noise of the thick strawberry concoction through the straw loud and annoying.  
  
Kyungsoo didn’t think the question justified an answer, only a death look which he quickly served up.  
  
“I bet he smells like baby powder, manliness, and dreams.” Baekhyun cooed, really laying it on thick. “Does he?”  
  
Another glare.  
  
“Fine, suit yourself. I will smell him myself.” Baekhyun pouted. Chanyeol didn’t dare say another word, knowing he was already in more trouble with Kyungsoo than he was comfortable with.  
  
Kyungsoo stretched his back, feeling very tense. Stupid Chanyeol and his forgetfulness. He picked up the smoothie cup he had discarded on the ground when he had went after Chanyeol, taking a loud slurp as he tried to calm down. The day hadn’t exactly been a restful one, which he had kind of expected when he had given in to Jongdae’s pleas to go to the mall with the three of them. “You need to relax, come on it will be fun. All you do anymore is stare – I mean, look pissed.”  
  
A Saturday afternoon at the mall was not Kyungsoo’s idea of a good time. He hated being anywhere that was overflowing with so many people, most of whom were outwardly annoying at first glance. The mall was a place for people like Sehun or Jongin to hang out at, not a place where Kyungsoo found a good time. In fact it was the antithesis of what he and his group of friends stood for – other than of course the largest gaming store in town. It was amazing what lengths they would go to if magic cards or dungeons and dragons handbooks were involved.  
  
“What is taking Jongdae so long? Did he get mangled by teddy bears or something?” Chanyeol craned his neck out, looking towards the stuffed animal making shop that Jongdae was visiting. He needed to make a present for his niece. The sight of the place had the other three guys retreating, too much pink and happiness for their comfort.  
  
“Maybe he finally managed to pick somebody up.” Baekhyun kept a straight face long enough to deliver the words, then broke into a fit of laughter alongside Chanyeol.  
  
“I don’t see you two with dates,” Kyungsoo reminded them, rolling his eyes.  
  
“At least we aren’t borderline stalking some younger dude.” Baekhyun winked at Kyungsoo.  
  
“Shut up.” Kyungsoo wasn’t stalking Sehun. No…he was just…staring a lot and fixated on him every second of every day. That wasn’t stalking, no, normal crush behavior. Completely normal.  
  
“Here comes Romeo.” Chanyeol smirked at the sight of Jongdae running from the store, the plastic bag containing whatever plush monstrosity he had created swinging violently as he ran.  
  
“Soo, guess who I just saw.” Jongdae was out of breath as he stopped in front of Kyungsoo, panting hard he relayed his encounter. “Your boy toy is making a stuffed bear. A pink bear!”  
  
“So?” Kyungsoo tried to seem disinterested, but Baekhyun wasn’t going to let that happen.  
  
“Um, Jongdae, he isn’t his boy toy. He is his naughty tutor,” Baekhyun corrected Jongdae.  
  
“Tutor?” Jongdae had the same reaction Baekhyun had, minus the comment about hiding his boner. “Seriously?”  
  
“Red alert, red alert, red alert!” Chanyeol started squawking loudly, nodding with his head towards the direction Jongdae had come from. Jongdae promptly whirled around, uttered a curse word, and took a seat next to Kyungsoo. The entire scene probably looked suspicious as hell.  
  
Kyungsoo found time slowing down- like a cliché stupid romance movie or something- as Oh Sehun approached. He hoped he hadn’t seen him sitting there, didn’t hear anything about a naughty tutor or…  
  
“Hey.” Sehun waved. Oh Sehun fucking waved. Kyungsoo stared, not moving, until Jongdae nudged him so hard he remembered to wave back.  
  
Thankfully Sehun didn’t stop, he kept walking, and thankfully Kyungsoo remembered how to breathe after Sehun disappeared from sight.  
  
“Hey.” Baekhyun mimed. “I take back what I said earlier. I bet he smells like sex.”  
  
“Like you know what that smells like.” Jongdae argued, Kyungsoo drowning out their banter. Oh Sehun had just said hi to him. In a public place. What is life?  
  
“Wonder if he was buying that bear for someone special.” Chanyeol spoke his thoughts aloud, Jongdae shushing him. “Dude, not cool.”  
  
Kyungsoo wished Chanyeol hadn’t said that, his mind suddenly asking the questions he should probably have asked before. Like was Sehun dating someone? Or interested in someone? No, it didn’t matter, because it wasn’t like Kyungsoo would ever date him. He could buy pink bears for whoever he wanted. Yes, it was fine. Totally fine. Kyungsoo was one million percent fine.  
  
Maybe.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Kyungsoo spent the rest of his weekend shifting between deep depression and mild annoyance, blowing off a movie night with the guys for a pouting session alone in his room. When Monday rolled around Kyungsoo was actually looking forward to it, even if it did mean having to see Sehun. He just wanted something to occupy his mind; all of the time alone was making him crazy.  
  
During Mrs. Oh’s math class Kyungsoo stared glumly out the window, the image of a pink bear dancing in his mind. Stupid pink bear. Stupid pink bear and stupid Oh Sehun buying the stupid pink bear. When the class period ended Kyungsoo realized he hadn’t heard a word of the lesson of the day, which was kind of a vicious cycle. The less he learned, the more he ignored because he was too caught up thinking about Sehun, which meant the more he would need to be tutored by Sehun. Why was life so cruel?  
  
Kyungsoo moped through the morning, managing to take half assed notes for the rest of his classes while imagining himself punching pink teddy bears. When lunch hour arrived he found that he was happy to see his friends. Their nonsensical arguments would be a welcome diversion to his own mental prison. He was almost to the cafeteria, finally about to find some sort of relief, when he heard someone call his name. Turning around he was faced with Kim Jongin, walking towards him.  
  
“Hey, shorty.” Jongin flashed his pearly whites, which Kyungsoo assumed was supposed to counter the very rude name he had just directed at Kyungsoo. “Got a second to talk?”  
  
“Sure.” Kyungsoo found anxiety coursing through him as he followed the junior to a corner of the hallway, desperately trying to figure out what Kim Jongin could possibly have to talk to him about.  
  
“I heard Sehun is tutoring you.” Jongin crossed his arms, leaning against the wall he appeared both bored and intimidating at the same time. “I need you to tell him to stop.”  
  
“What?” Kyungsoo wasn’t sure he understood.  
  
“He has been shit at evening practice lately and I don’t doubt it has something to do with the extra workload of tutoring your sorry ass right before he has to gear up. You are a distraction he doesn’t need. Besides, it isn’t like it is his fault you are failing…oh, well, maybe he has some responsibility. But it isn’t his fault you are a weirdo.”  
  
Kyungsoo realized then and there that any hope that he would ever think Jongin was a nice guy, maybe a tad bit misunderstood, someone who perhaps said mean things now and then but was hiding a heart of gold – was dashed. Kim Jongin was an asshole.  
  
“Who are you calling a weirdo, you…sporty freak..you?!” Chanyeol stuttered as he delivered the insult, not able to hold back when he spotted Kyungsoo standing and talking to Jongin, overhearing the junior’s biting words to his friend.  
  
“This doesn’t concern you,” Jongin drawled, looking disinterested at the person who had just joined the conversation.  
  
“I think it does, considering you are treating my friend like crap.” Chanyeol stood straight, trying to appear even taller than he already was.  
  
Kyungsoo grabbed Chanyeol’s arm, dragging him towards the cafeteria. “Come on, let’s go.”  
  
“He called you a weirdo!” Chanyeol protested.  
  
“Let it go!” Kyungsoo shouted, finally convincing Chanyeol to drop the matter, at least where confronting Kim Jongin was concerned. Once they had their lunches and had taken a seat at their usual table, Baekhyun and Jongdae already there, Chanyeol launched into a play by play of what had just happened.  
  
Kyungsoo stabbed his lunch with his fork, violently taking his frustrations out on his vegetables. If Jongin knew he stared at Sehun, which had been implied when he found the sketch Kyungsoo had so stupidly dropped, then had he told Sehun? Had they talked about Kyungsoo, mocking him in secret, joking about how he was strange and a freak and probably a stalker? The entire time that Sehun had sat with him had he been thinking of Kyungsoo as a sort of freak? Kyungsoo felt tears threaten to spill at the thought.  
  
“Hey, hey.” Baekhyun noticed the signs of Kyungsoo about to spill tears, reaching over he put an arm around his friend’s shoulders. “Just forget what that jerk said.”  
  
Kyungsoo nodded, swallowing back the tears. He wouldn’t cry, not in the crowded lunch room. He managed to hold back through lunch, through his afternoon classes, letting his despair morph into anger over how big of a tool Kim Jongin was. By the time five o’clock rolled around Kyungsoo was feeling angrier and less sad. Whether that trend would continue through his tutoring session with Sehun remained to be seen.  
  
When Kyungsoo arrived at the classroom he found Mrs. Oh sitting behind her desk, grading papers. “Kyungsoo!” The teacher looked positively excited to see him. “How is tutoring going?”  
  
“Good, I think.” Kyungsoo hadn’t had a quiz since his tutoring had started. While he was understanding the previous assignments more than he had, he was in no way caught up to where the class was.  
  
“Great to hear!” Mrs. Oh smiled sweetly. “I think this arrangement is good for both of you.”  
  
Kyungsoo wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say to that. Good for both of them? Mrs. Oh elaborated: “I probably shouldn’t say this, but Sehun has been a bit lost lately, hanging out some bad influences, that sort of thing. I have noticed a change in him already, and he just started tutoring you. I think you are just what he needs.”  
  
Kyungsoo couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was just what Sehun needed? He wanted to laugh maniacally but decided against making the teacher think he was insane – it was bad enough Sehun and Jongin probably already thought so.  
  
Sehun walked into the classroom, saying hi to his mom and ending anymore of the woman’s talk about how lost he was of late.  
  
“Where is the bear?” Sehun stared at the desk, pursing his lips.  
  
“Bear?” Mrs. Oh appeared confused, then placed a hand on her forehead, flinching. “I am so sorry dear! I forgot it at home. I will bring it tomorrow.”  
  
Sehun seemed happy with the answer, taking a seat next to Kyungsoo after a muttered hello. The pair launched into math problems, Mrs. Oh leaving a few minutes after they began, telling Sehun she would see him at home.  
  
Kyungsoo concentrated on the formulas before him, not wanting to consider that Sehun was probably thinking of him as some weirdo, maybe even laughing at him to Jongin after their tutoring sessions.  
  
“Kyungsoo.”  
  
The way Sehun said his name was…soft, maybe uneasy. “Yes?” Kyungsoo didn’t make eye contact, not daring to see mockery that he imagined was present in Sehun’s gaze.  
  
“I am really pissed that Jongin did that to you earlier. Sorry, my friend is an idiot.”  
  
Kyungsoo had not been expecting that. “Oh.”  
  
“He gets really weird when it comes to football. When he told me he had asked you to drop tutoring I wanted to punch him, no lie. I like tutoring you and it is no business of his.”  
  
Oh. Well…Kyungsoo had to remember to breathe. Was this, wait what was this?  
  
“He is kind of my only friend, so I put up with him. I hope you know I don’t think the same way.”  
  
Kyungsoo couldn’t help but turn and look at Sehun, too surprised that Mr. Popular had called Jongin his only friend. “But aren’t you super popular?”  
  
Sehun laughed. Dragging his hand through his hair, in a show that had Kyungsoo wishing he hadn’t looked, Sehun shook his head. “I don’t know why you think that. I mean, I don’t really hang out with anyone other than Jongin.”  
  
“I guess I just thought…” Kyungsoo really wished his mouth would stop.  
  
“I was thinking maybe you and I should hang out sometime. If you want – no pressure. You just seem like a cool guy and Jongin pisses me off a lot anymore.”  
  
Kyungsoo wondered if the water he had been sipping was laced with a hallucinogen. Was Sehun, Oh Sehun of the long legs and perfect – well, everything – asking to hang out with him? Was Oh Sehun telling him Jongin was an asshole and that they should be friends? This couldn’t be real.  
  
“Just forget I said anything.” Sehun looked dejected, Kyungsoo wide eyed and surprised quickly tried to rectify the situation.  
  
“No! I mean yes! We can hang out, if you want.”  
  
Sehun smiled widely. “Great! Are you free after tutoring tomorrow?”  
  
Tomorrow? Kyungsoo wanted to laugh maniacally. Yes, he was free – but was he mentally prepared to spend more time alone with Oh Sehun? Probably not. “Sure, tomorrow, great.”  
  
Sehun seemed happy with the answer, smiling broadly as he returned to explaining what Kyungsoo needed to work on after reviewing his latest math exercises. Kyungsoo should feel happy considering his crush had just invited him to hang out, but instead of being overjoyed he was terrified. Completely and utterly terrified.  
  
When six o’clock rolled around Kyungsoo found himself leaving first, needing to desperately extract himself from the atmosphere that was Oh Sehun and his strange request to be friends.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“Nice try, but you honestly think that your prayer from five weeks ago is going to protect you against a Death Knight hoard?” Jongdae rolled his eyes. “Byun Baekhyun, sometimes I think you mistook the paladin class for a playable god.”  
  
“Listen, nerdboy, I know more about the paladin class than you ever will,” Baekhyun shot back, picking up a handful of popcorn and threatening to toss it at Jongdae.  
  
“Then why aren’t you the dungeon master?” Jongdae countered, raising an eyebrow in challenge.  
  
“I could be! Probably better than you!” Baekhyun stood up, placing his hands on his hips, and he glared at Jongdae.  
  
“Soo, you want a soda? And by want I mean do you want to take a breather while these two morons fight it out?” Chanyeol whispered to Kyungsoo, knowing full well it would be another fifteen minutes before Jongdae and Baekhyun settled their differences and game play could resume. Kyungsoo nodded, not really in the mood to listen to his two friends throw every game rule they could recall at each other until one of them finally caved in.  
  
Kyungsoo followed Chanyeol to his kitchen – well, his parents’ kitchen. Mr. and Mrs. Park were having a date night, which led Chanyeol to invite his friends over for a weekday Dungeons and Dragons session. The game wouldn’t go on as long as if it was the weekend but they were still resolved to get a few hours of gaming in.  
  
“Grape soda okay?” Chanyeol held one up, the other half of him hidden by the fridge door. “Sorry, it is the only thing my mom buys anymore.”  
  
Kyungsoo took the soda, cracked it open and took a sip.  
  
“So how was tutoring?” Chanyeol added, “Do I need to kick Mr. Dream Boat’s ass like I did with his punk friend?”  
  
“You didn’t kick Jongin’s ass.”  
  
“I could have!” Chanyeol shut the fridge door, walking over to the counter he jumped up to sit on it. “You seem like you are in a better mood though…”  
  
Chanyeol was fishing for information and by all rules of common sense Kyungsoo should have kept quiet. Yet he really needed someone to talk to. “Sehun said he yelled at Jongin for his comment.”  
  
“Oh?!” Chanyeol whistled. “Maybe he is Mr. Dream Boat.”  
  
“Please don’t call him that.”  
  
“Fine, sex on legs.” Chanyeol paused for a moment, waiting for Kyungsoo to hit him. When the smaller boy did not throw a punch he continued. “It still seems like something is wrong... You didn’t even cast the acid splash spell on Baekhyun once, and by all accounts he was being super annoying. You love that spell – I know something is going on, Soo, so spill it. Tell Chanyeol what is troubling you.”  
  
The sounds of Jongdae and Baekhyun arguing could be heard from the dining room. Kyungsoo sighed, knowing it would be awhile before their game would resume. In short, concise sentences, he detailed what was eating at him: his fear that Sehun had seen the sketch, knew about Kyungsoo’s mega crush, and maybe even laughed at him behind his back.  
  
“If you creep him out then why would he yell at Jongin for telling you to quit tutoring?” Chanyeol was confused. “I think you are reading this all wrong.”  
  
Kyungsoo needed to hear that validation, it really did help to have his friend point out something he should probably have seen as obvious. Yet…there was still another problem.  
  
“There is something else.” Kyungsoo hesitated telling Chanyeol everything that had happened earlier that day, knowing he would make a huge deal out of it. Yet…“He wants to hang out. He wants to hang out WITH ME.”  
  
“Like a date?!” Chanyeol clapped his hands furiously, morphing into a teenage girl who just found out her favorite actress was marrying a prince or something. “YOU ARE GOING ON A DATE WITH OH SEHUN?!”  
  
“What? No, not a date!” Kyungsoo protested, but it was already too late. Somehow, in some magical way, Jongdae and Baekhyun had heard Chanyeol’s shouts over their own argument. The pounding of footsteps and a few seconds later and there were two more teenage boys exclaiming, “YOU HAVE A DATE WITH OH SEHUN?!”  
  
“NO! IT IS NOT A DATE!” Kyungsoo exhaled, frustrated. “We are going to hang out. IT IS A HANG-OUT! NOT A DATE! I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.”  
  
“You got those two to stop arguing so I think you did a good thing,” Chanyeol offered, Baekhyun and Jongdae shooting him dirty looks in tandem.  
  
“What are you going to wear?” Jongdae looked thoughtful. “You should probably buy new clothes.”  
  
“I can do your eyeliner if you want? I got really good at it when I dressed in drag last Halloween,” Baekhyun added.  
  
“If you need any tips on how to get in his pants I am your man,” Chanyeol piped up.  
  
“NO, NO, NO!” Kyungsoo felt like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. “It is friendly, not romantic. I don’t even know what we are doing yet. “  
  
“I suggest you do each other.” Jongdae snickered, Baekhyun high fiving him for his lame joke.  
  
“Can we get back to the game?” Kyungsoo tossed his empty soda can in the recyclable, stalking into the dining room, no longer feeling the need to stay and talk about his future hangout date – time, he meant time - with Sehun.  
  
Chanyeol hopped down from the counter, hooking an arm around each of the other two boys and he dragged them towards the dining room. “Come on, if we wait any longer I think Soo is going to burn down my house.”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Kyungsoo didn’t have to pick out what to wear for his hangout with Sehun, resulting in a very disappointed Jongdae. “Seriously, you don’t even get to put on tight jeans and be a tease?” Jongdae had tsked the situation over lunch, disappointed that Sehun and Kyungsoo would be going right from school – in their uniforms – to wherever they were going to “friend hangout, I said it IS NOT A DATE! NOT A DATE!”  
  
On the other hand Kyungsoo was relieved he had one less thing to obsess over. He was already on pins and needles about everything else - his hair, his demeanor, if Sehun was only toying with him and other such totally minor things that had him feeling like he wanted to throw up every five minutes. By the time five o’clock rolled around Kyungsoo was in need of a drink, and he had never sipped liquor in his life.  
  
“We should cut out early.” Sehun and his smile and suggestion they hurry up and get out of there was certainly not helping Kyungsoo’s frame of mind either. A mumbled agreement and forty minutes of math problems later and Sehun was snapping Kyungsoo’s textbook shut. “I think we did enough for today, don’t you?”  
  
Kyungsoo nodded dumbly, collecting his things and following sex on legs – Sehun, he meant Sehun – out of the classroom.  
  
“Do you like coffee?” Sehun asked lazily as they walked down the hall, Kyungsoo trying to keep up with Sehun’s long strides.  
  
“Yes.” Kyungsoo hated coffee, loathed it, but he really didn’t want to admit the fact at the moment.  
  
“Great, I know a little café a few blocks away. We could go hang out there.” Sehun ended up ordering bubble tea, not coffee, which made Kyungsoo feel like a fool for having immediately asked for the bitter iced Americano. Maintaining a straight face while he slurped up the bitter liquid, Kyungsoo fidgeted in his seat. He was sitting across from Sehun. In a public place.  
  
“I hope this isn’t weird.”  
  
“No!” Kyungsoo thought it was weird, really awkward and uncomfortable and he had no idea why Sehun would ever want to hang out with him to begin with.  
  
“Are you part of that group that are always playing with those cards?”  
  
Kyungsoo considered drowning himself in what was left of his Americano. Was Sehun asking about Magic Cards? Oh…..this was not good. “Um, well…” Kyungsoo cleared his throat, twirling the straw between his fingers he tried to think fast. “My friends like that game.”  
  
“Is it with wizards, warriors, that sort of thing?”  
  
Kyungsoo nodded, wanting to cry.  
  
“I don’t usually play tabletop games, or cards. Usually just video games – last summer I developed a bad addiction to Skyrim.”  
  
Kyungsoo was sure that love at first sight was a myth, because love only came after the guy you had been crushing on for months took you out for a horrible tasting drink and then admitted he liked role playing games. Yes, that was the magic moment, the moment when the sun shone around the beautiful blonde, tall and athletic Oh Sehun – the moment when Kyungsoo couldn’t look away even if the building was burning down around him. “You like Skyrim?”  
  
“Yeah. Do you?”  
  
“I play here and there.” Play it cool Kyungsoo, don’t let the embodiment of human perfection know how perfect he truly is. Play it cool.  
  
“Before bed I try to sneak in a FPS game here and there.” Sehun took a long drink of his bubble tea, pulling out his phone he started fiddling with it. A few seconds later he was holding up a note on his phone. “I keep track of everything I have won, mostly because it pisses Jongin off.”  
  
Kyungsoo was sure that there were stars in his eyes as he looked at the list, Sehun beaming proudly at his video game accomplishments. “You probably think I am weird, huh.”  
  
“No! Not at all.” Kyungsoo wanted to laugh at how stupid Sehun’s question was.  
  
“Do you like playing two player games? You could come over this weekend if you want. My Mom is going to be out of town so the house will be quiet.”  
  
Mom.out.of.town.Come.Over. Kyungsoo swallowed, hard. “That would be great.”  
  
“So what do you like to do, Kyungsoo?” Sehun was holding the cup of bubble tea in both hands, hands that Kyungsoo couldn’t help but glance at. Big hands. It was getting hard to focus.  
  
“I…” Kyungsoo looked away, trying to regain his composure. “Normal stuff. Watch movies, fail math class, that sort of thing?” Oh my god, did he just try to make a joke?! Kyungsoo blanched, waiting for Sehun’s response.  
  
A laugh. Sehun laughed, Kyungsoo felt immediate relief. “Well I hope I am helping with at least one of your hobbies.”  
  
“You are. Thanks, by the way. If I haven’t said so already.” Kyungsoo managed to make eye contact again, fighting the urge to focus on Sehun’s hands.  
  
“My mom said you are starting to show some improvement.” Kyungsoo wasn’t sure if Sehun was boasting or showing pride in Kyungsoo’s ability to grasp the lessons now that he had one-on-one tutoring.  
  
“I am trying.”  
  
“I can tell.” Sehun smiled and Kyungsoo stared. Why did he always stare?  
  
They spent almost an hour making small talk, Sehun doing most of the talking, Kyungsoo most of the listening. Sehun shared that he was growing bored with football, but he thought his mom would kill him if he quit, not to mention the fact Jongin would probably disown him as a friend if he dared to drop the sport. Kyungsoo shared that he really wasn’t into sports, which didn’t earn any teasing from Sehun, which Kyungsoo was thankful for. Sehun explained that he was in advanced English classes too and could graduate that year if he chose, but he didn’t want to cut his high school experience short. Kyungsoo mentioned a few schools he was thinking about applying to – and the fact he better apply to soon. Sehun gave him a “fighting”.  
  
A causal “see you around” later (once Sehun realized his mom would kill him if he wasn’t home for dinner) and Kyungsoo was watching broad shoulders and long legs as Sehun elegantly strolled from the café. Kyungsoo wanted to remember that moment – because it was the first time he remembered feeling like he had a remote chance with Sehun, even if thinking so might be the most foolish thing he had ever thought in his life.  
  
It wasn’t like it wasn’t already a well-established fact that Sehun turned him into a fool.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“Really?! Not a date my ass.” Baekhyun, hands on hips, wouldn’t give in.  
  
“It wasn’t a date!” Kyungsoo repeated for the hundredth time. He had said so in writing – fielding half a dozen texts from his three friends the night before – most of which focused on anatomical questions involving Sehun and his dick. Now, sitting around the quad before classes started, Kyungsoo was facing a verbal onslaught of doubt over his lack of romantic escapades with Sehun the night before.  
  
“I can’t believe you would go out with him and not jump him.” Jongdae slumped down on the bench, sighing. “Soo, you bring shame on us all.”  
  
“Like you would have made a move?! We went to a coffee shop, what was I supposed to do – snog him in the middle of the shop?!” Kyungsoo threw his hands up, his frustrations getting the better of him. It was poor timing, just as he was belittling his friend’s for their comments about Sehun the man himself came walking across the quad, Jongin’s arm loosely slung over his shoulders.  
  
Sehun waved, the same little friendly wave he had given when Kyungsoo had seen him at the mall the weekend before. Kyungsoo dropped his hands in horror, hoping Sehun hadn’t overheard the phrase “snog in him the middle of the shop”. Plastering a smile on his face he offered a small wave in return, noticing the way Jongin scowled at him in turn.  
  
“I hate that guy,” Chanyeol muttered under his breath, clearly referring to Sehun’s best friend. Kyungsoo was thankful Chanyeol didn’t speak too loudly once it was clear that Sehun and Jongin were not passing by – they were making their way over to where Kyungsoo and his friends sat.  
  
Jongin removed his arm from Sehun’s shoulders, deciding instead to cross his arms and give off a fighting stance, his distaste with Kyungsoo and his friends evident in his scowl. Sehun, on the other hand, was all easy going smiles.  
  
“I am going to be a little late to tutoring today, I need to meet with the football coach first.” Sehun’s announcement gave Jongin reason to assume a told-you-so expression, which he promptly directed at Kyungsoo. Of course, tutoring was in the way of Sehun and football.  
  
“Th- that’s fine.” Kyungsoo stumbled over his words, Jongin’s dislike getting the better of him.  
  
“Can I have your number? I will text you when I am almost done so you know when to meet me.” Sehun pulled his phone from his pocket, holding it out to Kyungsoo. It was a sensible request, not at all screaming of dating or hooking up or anything of the sort – yet Kyungsoo knew his three friends were probably mentally screaming at the moment.  
  
Kyungsoo took the phone, punching his number in and saving it under the rather plain and boring reality of his first name. He wasn’t going to try to act cute and save his number as a nickname. He didn’t have the guts to do anything like that to be honest.  
  
“Can’t he just wait for you?” Jongin grumbled as Kyungsoo finished up entering his phone number in Sehun’s phone. “Do you think it is a good idea to be spreading your number around school like this?”  
  
“At least there are people that want his number.” Chanyeol – Park Chanyeol of the impressive stature and awkward gait and jovial humor- seemed to possess an unusually courageous and somewhat foolishly hotheaded temperament when it came to Kim Jongin. Chanyeol stood up straight, attempting to look even taller as he stared Jongin down. I dare you, his stance said, a complete dichotomy to Baekhyun and Jongdae’s snickers from behind their friend’s tall frame.  
  
Jongin scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I don’t think you of all people should be discussing popularity.”  
  
“I am not a jerk face, so I think I have every right to talk about popularity and the way no one likes a jerk face named – wait. I need to take the high road.” Chanyeol let out a high pitched, awkward laugh, Kyungsoo flinching at how out of place it sounded. “Whose name starts with a J and ends with an Ongin.”  
  
Jongin took one step forward and Chanyeol one step back, everything happening so quickly Kyungsoo paled at the thought that his friend may end up in a fist fight with Oh Sehun’s best friend in the middle of the quad – over the insult “jerk-face” of all things.  
  
“Hey, chill.” Sehun placed an arm in front of Jongin, effectively holding him back. “And I don’t think giving Kyungsoo my number equates to spreading it all over school. He is my friend.”  
  
Raised eyebrows, a questioning look, and silence were all that Jongin offered up in response to the announcement that Kyungsoo had friend status with Sehun. A change seemed to take place instantaneously, each boy unsure of how to act given the new situation.  
  
“I will text you.” Sehun took his phone back, pulling Jongin away he nodded to Kyungsoo as a gesture of farewell. The entire episode lasted less than two minutes, maybe three minutes if Kyungsoo was being generous, yet it had felt like an hour.  
  
“I should have hit him.” Chanyeol whacked his fist into the palm of his hand, staring after Jongin.  
  
“You have never fought anyone in your life, he would have creamed you.” Baekhyun patted Chanyeol on the back. “Just admit it, you are more a lover than a fighter.”  
  
“Shut up, Baekhyun.” Chanyeol sent one more glare at Jongin’s back before turning to Kyungsoo. “Way to score his number, you tricky devil you.”  
  
Kyungsoo closed his eyes tightly, exhaling as he let his shoulders fall. It was no use reiterating he hadn’t given Sehun his number because they were hooking up, hell, Chanyeol had been right there to hear the entire exchange. Sometimes his friends could be so horribly impossible to deal with.


	2. Chapter 2

Finals were in three weeks and Kyungsoo was feeling better about his chances at passing than he had during the entire semester. When he stood facing the Oh resident’s front door, palms sweaty, head swimming with doubts, he could at least feel some comfort in the fact he would probably pass his math class. Now he just had to survive a Saturday afternoon with Sehun.  
  
Sehun answered the door a few seconds after the doorbell rang, Kyungsoo jumping back in fright, not expecting him to be there so quickly.  
  
“You came.” Sehun held the door open wide. “Cool. Today is the perfect day for gaming.”  
  
A light rain had begun to fall, which didn’t really matter to Kyungsoo. He usually spent the day inside anyway, but for someone like Sehun inclement weather probably did sour his other hobbies. Kyungsoo played along. “Yeah, it isn’t really the weather to be out…um..jog..ging.” Did Sehun like to jog, other than during practice when he tortured Kyungsoo with that very action? Kyungsoo had no idea, but jogging seemed to be the least threatening physical activity to be involved in. No rules, just running.  
  
“You run?” Sehun seemed surprised, shutting the door after Kyungsoo walked inside and shucked off his jacket.  
  
“Every now and then,” Kyungsoo lied. The last time he jogged it was because he had been forced to by his least favorite gym teacher in the universe, Mr. Choi. He had never once gone running of his own accord, the entire activity seemed painful and uncomfortable to him.  
  
“We should go running sometime,” Sehun offered, Kyungsoo muttering, “That would be nice”. He hoped Sehun would forget about his little white lie soon because he didn’t think he could survive a run with Sehun. Physically or mentally.  
  
“Do you want the grand tour?” Sehun held his arms out. “It is kind of cluttered but my mom likes the cozy feeling.”  
  
Kyungsoo didn’t find the house cluttered at all. It was homey, a two story white clapboard house on a nice size lot. It was a ways away from their school, almost in the suburbs, which meant Sehun must be attending their high school based on academic choice, not geographical proximity.  
  
The rooms were decent sized. A flagstone fireplace sat in one corner of the living room. Kyungsoo found himself walking over to the living room wall of family photographs out of sheer curiosity, spotting several pictures of Sehun as he was growing up.  
  
“Oh god, don’t look at those, it is so embarrassing.” Sehun made a move to stand in between Kyungsoo and the pictures.  
  
“I am sure they are fine.” Kyungsoo slapped Sehun’s arms away, surprised at his own boldness. Since when did he become so comfortable with Sehun that he could act like this? Somewhere between hanging out at the café and spending an hour a day pouring over formulas a familiarity had been born, one that Kyungsoo hadn’t really pinpointed until that moment.  
  
“Is that your dad?” Kyungsoo pointed at the largest of the pictures, a portrait with Sehun, his mother, and the man that Kyungsoo assumed to be his father. Sehun strongly resembled him, his nose, sharp jawline, and brow line almost identical.  
  
“Yeah.” Sehun stared at the picture, standing alongside Kyungsoo. “He passed away last year.”  
  
“Oh. I am sorry.” Kyungsoo suddenly felt like shit for having asked, even if he had no idea.  
  
“Thanks. Cancer.” Sehun dragged a hand through his already messy hair, a habit that Kyungsoo had come to recognize. ”He was diagnosed in August and we lost him in September.”  
  
Now the bear that he saw on Mrs. Oh’s desk, the one that Sehun had made at the mall, made sense. It was a cancer awareness bear. A new meaning to the plushie had Kyungsoo feeling like shit for ever wondering why Sehun had made it.  
  
“I miss him.” Sehun’s words were sad, wistful, raw and honest.  
  
Kyungsoo, for all his arguments with his parents, couldn’t imagine losing one of them so young. He felt horrible for Sehun having to experience that, yet he couldn’t think what to say. He remained quiet, moments passing before either boy made a move. It was Sehun who broke up the dark cloud that was hovering over them. “Do you want to see my room?” Sehun’s words seemed ready to deflect any further talk of sadness, Kyungsoo going with the flow and nodding at Sehun’s change in tone.  
  
“Sure.” Kyungsoo was curious what sort of place Sehun slept in. Maybe that sounded creepy, maybe it was creepy – because Kyungsoo wanted to see his bed. Maybe sniff a pillow or two. Okay, it was totally creepy. Trying his best to ignore an urge to sniff pillows or take a stray picture for memories sake, Kyungsoo followed Sehun upstairs to his room.  
  
Sehun’s bedroom was large, a four poster bed sitting in the middle. Kyungsoo found the design of the bedframe almost feminine in styling, biting back a smile at the sight. Sehun slept in what looked like a princess bed.  
  
“My mom picked out the furniture, don’t judge.” Sehun walked over to his flat screen television, fiddling around with the hookups in the back. “What game do you want to play? Is Halo okay for a warmup?”  
  
“If you don’t get mad when I beat you.” Newly confident Kyungsoo was on cloud nine, feeling like he could conquer the world now that he was sitting on the edge of Sehun’s princess bed, having survived the first ten minutes alone with his crush and no longer certain he would dive into the bed and go on a sniffing spree.  
  
“Ha. We will see about that.” Sehun wasn’t about to concede to Kyungsoo, which became clear as time and time again Kyungsoo ended up dying. It didn’t help that he hadn’t played Halo in forever, preferring RPGs to FPS.  
  
“You are too good at this,” Kyungsoo blurted out after his fifth failure.  
  
“And you don’t know how to give up.”  
  
“Not really.”  
  
“Have you always been this stubborn? “  
  
“When I want something.”  
  
“I bet your girlfriend never stood a chance.” Sehun said it so casually that Kyungsoo would find himself dwelling on his reaction for the next two days. He dropped his controller, the plastic bouncing on the carpeting.  
  
“You okay?” Sehun raised an eyebrow, leaning in to see if Kyungsoo was sick or something.  
  
“Sorry. No. I-“Kyungsoo retrieved the controller, but it didn’t matter. Another load screen, he had just died. Why did he want to clarify so much? He needed to, what if Sehun had the wrong idea? “I don’t have a girlfriend.”  
  
“Neither do I.” Sehun flipped through his equipment screen. “Girls are icky and all that. Being single is where it is at. ”  
  
Kyungsoo couldn’t help but laugh, Sehun’s pursed lips only adding to his childlike answer.  
  
“You want to go a round in Call of Duty?” Sehun brushed off further talk of icky girls, putting in the next game once Kyungsoo agreed to the new challenge.  
  
Kyungsoo found he wasn’t much better at Call of Duty than he had been at Halo, Sehun winning time and time again. If he had been playing Chanyeol, Baekhyun or Jongdae he would have quit a long time ago, frustrated at his constant losses. Yet with Sehun it was different. Even if he was losing he was having fun just playing, hearing Sehun drop swear words here and there when things didn’t go exactly as he planned them (which was few and far between), then chatting casually with Kyungsoo as they blasted each other with any and everything they could find.  
  
An hour of gameplay turned into two and then three, Kyungsoo oblivious to the passing time -he was having too much fun to realize it was past four o’clock and he had no idea if his sister was dvr-ing the Walking Dead episode he had missed. The only interruption that pulled him out of the revelry was a loud rumble originating from his stomach.  
  
“Hungry?” Sehun patted his own tummy. “I think it is about dinner time. What do you want?”  
  
Kyungsoo hadn’t realized gaming would turn into eating dinner together, until he was seated amidst a jumble of takeout boxes, stuffing his mouth full of sweet and sour chicken as Sehun flipped through channels on the impressively large television in the living room.  
  
“You wanna sleep over?” Sehun bridged the topic as they finished eating, Kyungsoo wishing he kept a diary so he could write in all big bold letters BEST DAY EVER.  
  
“Yeah. I just have to text my mom.” Kyungsoo had never sent a text message so quickly in his life.  
  
“You said you like movies? Want to pick something on Netflix? I am all gamed out.” Sehun‘s eyes were half lidded, he slumped back into the sofa, legs up on the coffee table. “I think I am slipping into a food coma. Soo, help me.”  
  
He called him Soo. Only his friends called him Soo. It felt weird, not bad - just weird. “I um, honestly.” Kyungsoo didn’t want to bore Sehun but his courage had only been increasing with every passing hour in his company. “I like documentaries and dramas. Depressing stuff.”  
  
“Emo?” Sehun chuckled. “I could have guessed that. Give me your best. Make me cry.”  
  
Kyungsoo hated the word emo, but the fact that Sehun agreed to watch one of his favorite tearjerkers was good enough reason to not argue about the use of the term. He picked one of the last documentaries he had watched, the story of three brothers fighting a murder charge for the death of the fourth brother– clearly innocent but ostracized for their strange lifestyle as hermits and illiterate country folk. The movie screamed injustice and had Kyungsoo feeling angry and sad in tandem as he had watched it.  
  
As the title sequence played, Kyungsoo turned his phone off. He only had to see fifteen new messages to know his friends were already scrambling for details on Sehun’s dick size and if he gave good head. Shoving the phone in his pocket he settled back.  
  
He couldn’t help but glance over throughout the move to see Sehun’s reaction, curious if he would drift off or laugh or say the entire thing was stupid. Showing Sehun one of these type of films was opening a part of his true personality to the younger boy, it was a big chance. Kyungsoo wanted to take that chance, but still feared rejection. He was, after all, Do Kyungsoo the self-avowed dorky kid and the person he was revealing himself too little by little was none other than Mr. Perfect Oh Sehun. It was a huge gamble.  
  
Sehun didn’t fall asleep, but he didn’t appear particularly enthralled by the movie either. Long legs resting on the coffee table, a throw pillow hugged to his middle, he leaned his head to the side and stared ahead. It was quiet until around the halfway point when Sehun sat up, scaring Kyungsoo with his sudden action. “This pisses me off. How can they say that about them? They are clearly innocent.”  
  
He got it. Oh Sehun understood and felt the same way. And Do Kyungsoo was so fucking proud he could scream. Instead of screaming, ruining the moment and scaring Sehun away from him forever he started an in-depth discussion of the failures of the modern justice system, replete with a tangent on trial by media. Sehun followed along, adding his two cents, agreeing and offering valid arguments when his opinion differed.  
  
“Wow, this is kind of fun.” Sehun chuckled as the credits rolled, their conversation taking up most of the second half of the film. Kyungsoo could debate whether Sehun was being sarcastic or if he meant it but the younger man left little doubt when he suggested they watch another film- Kyungsoo’s choice.  
  
Six hours and three documentaries later, Kyungsoo knew that Sehun didn’t like to cry during sad parts but he did like to voice his opinions – who would have thought that Oh Sehun could be the intellectual type? The list of reason why Kyungsoo was crushing so hard on Sehun kept growing, painfully so.  
  
Another layer of complicated feelings emerged when Kyungsoo realized he wasn’t crying as he re-watched the films he had seen solo, nor was he chasing depression. He was engaged, interested, and beyond anything else, happy to have someone to talk to about it. When their mini marathon ended, Kyungsoo felt changed, in the most subtle of ways.  
  
“I don’t usually get to talk like this, with friends I mean.” Sehun tossed Kyungsoo an oversized sleep shirt, the two teenagers trudging up to Sehun’s room after their movie marathon. “Jongin tends to have a one track mind.”  
  
Kyungsoo didn’t have the guts to say anything bad about Jongin to Sehun, even though he cared little for the man. It was best friend territory and he wasn’t about to say something that would have Sehun pissed at him. Instead he took a few steps towards the door, ready to go to the bathroom to change. He found himself stopping short when Sehun casually took off his shirt, milky white skin and the hint of a tummy, happy trails and well-defined upper arms from years of playing sports flashing before him, causing Kyungsoo to swallow hard as he took in the younger man’s shirtless form.  
  
“Hope the sofa is okay.” Sehun pulled his nightshirt over his head, ending the free show.  
  
“Sure. Sofa is fine.” Kyungsoo needed to wash his brain.  
  
“I have to be to practice at ten, sorry we can’t sleep in. I guess I should have said something about it earlier.” Sehun appeared apologetic and Kyungsoo was too caught up in what he had just seen to really give a shit one way or another what time he had to wake up. He was feeling a bit warm at the moment, his brain fighting a losing battle – to remember shirtless Sehun or to forget. Remember. Of course his body screamed remember.  
  
Sehun had made up a bed for him on the small sofa in his room, another feminine bit of furniture that didn’t fit the teenager’s personality at all. Kyungsoo awkwardly turned around and made his way to the sofa, needing to end the part where the lights were on and he was about to be caught staring at Sehun in his own room.  
  
“Aren’t you going to change?” Sehun asked as he slipped into bed.  
  
Kyungsoo had forgotten about the shirt in his hands, too busy trying not to pop a boner in the middle of his crush’s room. “Oh…um...yeah.” Turning his back to Sehun he made the quickest change ever, not wanting Sehun to see how much more of a tummy he had or how his arms were anything but defined.  
  
“Night, Soo.”  
  
“Night.” Kyungsoo pulled the covers up to his chin, holding onto them tightly. When Sehun turned the lights out Kyungsoo breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn’t stare in the dark. Only think about shirtless Sehun and will his growing erection away. God damnit.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Kyungsoo prided himself in not being the forgetful type. He always knew where he placed his phone, he never lost his wallet, and he was driven crazy by the way his little sister was the exact opposite. He had, however, forgotten something rather important. He had worn Sehun’s sleep shirt home, throwing his sweatshirt over the tee absentmindedly (only partially distracted by Sehun in sweats) and going about his merry way on Sunday morning. All of which meant he needed to give Sehun his shirt back – which would raise all sorts of eyebrows if done in the wrong company.  
  
He was hoping to pass the shirt to Sehun during Monday’s tutoring, but when he spotted Mrs. Oh camped out in the classroom with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face, plying him with questions on how their “play date” went, Kyungsoo couldn’t do it. He kept the shirt in his backpack, deciding he would give it to Sehun after tutoring. Of course the world was conspiring against him, Sehun leaving with his mom, the opportunity lost.  
  
By Tuesday the issue of the wayward t-shirt was eating at him, the feeling of disorderliness driving him nuts. He thought he had found the perfect opportunity when he ran into Sehun in between classes, their newfound friendship facilitating more than a passing hello.  
  
“I have your shirt, if you want to stop by my locker.” Kyungsoo’s eyes were darting around, making sure no one heard the words “your shirt”. He felt like he was making a drug deal or something.  
  
Sehun had a few minutes before his next class so he trailed behind Kyungsoo, the handover made with relative ease. Until-  
  
“Oh. OH.”  
  
Byun Baekhyun, that punk. “Trading clothes I see?” He winked so suggestively Kyungsoo wanted to gag. It wasn’t like Kyungsoo hadn’t already been subjected to another round of “how did you not sleep with him” as soon as his friends found out he had spent the night at Sehun’s house.  
  
“Yeah. Jealous?” Sehun drawled, Kyungsoo almost choking on his spit at the unexpected response. Baekhyun was surprised too, if his sudden lack of a comeback was anything to judge by. Sehun went one step further, smiling sweetly at Kyungsoo. “See you at five.”  
  
Kyungsoo was blushing furiously, staring after Sehun’s retreating figure.  
  
“And you didn’t suck his dick? How is that even a thing?” Baekhyun was gaping after the junior as well. “I would suck his dick and I don’t even want to date him.”  
  
Kyungsoo delivered one of his pinpoint accurate punches, leaving Baekhyun to whine in the middle of the hall.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
With the big day – the math final – fast approaching Sehun suggested longer tutoring sessions and Kyungsoo readily agreed, not wanting to let go of his marked progress…or his time with Sehun. Their hour together became two hours, Sehun explaining that now football season was coming to an end he had more free time. There was only one more game of the season, which he unexpectedly invited Kyungsoo to. “If you want to, I mean, since we hang out now it would be like a friend thing.”  
  
Kyungsoo found the invitation oddly bashful coming out of Sehun, plus he couldn’t turn down an opportunity to stare at Sehun and have the activity be completely and totally socially acceptable; despite his general awkwardness at attending a school sporting event. He didn’t want to go alone, however, so he dragged Chanyeol along with him to the Friday night game.  
  
“Don’t I look spirited? Huh?” Chanyeol was dressed in head to toe red and white, complete with a red top hat that he got from god-knows-where, flashing his big goofy smile as he appeared at Kyungsoo’s front door.  
  
“You are seriously wearing that?” Kyungsoo had played it safe, a black sweatshirt and jeans. He thought Chanyeol looked ridiculous.  
  
“Soo, it is a football game, where is your spirit?” Chanyeol pushed at his friend, “Don’t you want lover boy to know you are cheering for him?”  
  
Perhaps he should have invited Baekhyun – no, scratch that – Jongdae would have probably been the safer choice even if his mind was in the gutter seventy five percent of the time.  
  
When they arrived at the playing field Chanyeol’s team spirit increased fivefold; he was whooping and hollering even before the game began. Kyungsoo wanted to die of embarrassment but relegated himself to playing it cool, laughing instead. The more he basked in the ridiculousness of it all the more he let go and had fun, something that seemed to happen a lot with Chanyeol; it was part of their weird friendship dynamic.  
  
Kyungsoo spotted Sehun as soon as he took the field, and my god did he look amazing in his football uniform. Kyungsoo had never seen him in full gear, only partial gear during his ogling sessions. With the shoulder pads adding to Sehun’s already broad shoulders, the tight pants, and the form fitting jersey Sehun looked like…dare he use Chanyeol’s words...sex on legs.  
  
“Fuck, I didn’t know football players were this hot.” Chanyeol seemed a tad bit – okay, a lot- enraptured himself, feasting his sights on the playing field like he had just hit the hot guy lottery.  
  
“How about Jongin?” Kyungsoo teased, nodding towards where Sehun’s best friend stood, barking out orders to the other players. He was the team’s quarterback, one of their star players.  
  
“I hate that guy.” Chanyeol stood firm.  
  
“He is kind of hot though.” Kyungsoo enjoyed being the one teasing for once, finding some pleasure in the way Chanyeol squirmed at the suggestion.  
  
“If being an asshole is hot, then yeah.”  
  
“He is the star player.” Kyungsoo mused, Chanyeol shaking his head vigorously. “I would rather make out with a chick.”  
  
“Ouch.” Kyungsoo laughed, knowing full well how little Chanyeol had ever wanted to make out with a girl. It was a well-accepted fact, since they were plodding through freshman year, that neither of them had any interest in women – at least not in a sexual way.  
  
Kyungsoo set teasing Chanyeol aside as the game play heated up. He found himself unexpectedly engrossed in the game, even if he didn’t know what half of the terms meant or anything other than the end zone being a good thing. When the game ended, Sehun and team taking the win, Kyungsoo was fist pumping and high fiving his ridiculously dressed friend with fervor.  
  
As he was descending the stands a buzz alerted Kyungsoo to a new text message. It was from Sehun. “We are getting dinner after the game, want to come?”  
  
Kyungsoo felt like he might be intruding on the team, and he really didn’t want to do that. It was bad enough Jongin hated him for having Sehun tutor him, he didn’t need to add to the hatred by ruining the team’s final post game pig-out of the year. He typed back “I don’t want to intrude, I am kind of tired any way. And good job! You were awesome!” and continued on his way, ready to go home and lie in bed with the image of Sehun in a football uniform to lull him to sleep.  
  
“I want to see you.”  
  
Kyungsoo hadn’t expected that – ever, to be honest. Sehun wanted to see him? Seriously? As in, specifically desired his presence?  
  
“Can I meet you outside?”  
  
Kyungsoo gulped, typing a yes and waiting for Sehun to tell him where to meet up. Chanyeol stuck by his side, apparently oblivious to the way Kyungsoo was starting to blush, the way his heart was starting to pound. He couldn’t ask Chanyeol to give him a moment alone with Sehun, could he? No, that would be stupid. That would lead to all sorts of questions. Plus, what if Sehun only wanted to see him for some inane reason like a reminder about math homework? Yes, it was probably something stupid about math.  
  
They met near the entrance of the playing field, Chanyeol asking why they were hanging around when his head was getting sweaty from wearing a top hat for so long. “How did they do it back then?” He pondered, pulling the hat from his head and ruffling his hair.  
  
Kyungsoo ignored his friend, his eyes glued on Oh Sehun emerging from the door that led to the locker rooms. He wondered if time really did stand still, a thousand sickeningly sweet things going through his head – and all killed and turned to dust when he spotted Jongin walking out after Sehun.  
  
“Great job, Sehun!” Chanyeol flashed a thumbs up, completely ignoring his arch nemesis.  
  
“Thanks for coming.” Sehun ran up to Kyungsoo. “I wanted to ask you before I forgot.”  
  
“Ask me what?” Kyungsoo’s gaze darted from Jongin, familiar scowl in place, to Sehun – his hair mussed up and sweaty, still wearing his football gear. It wasn’t a difficult choice of which boy he wanted to stare at more.  
  
“Jongin is having a party the night after finals. Do you want to come?”  
  
Party. Jongin. Why did that not sound like a good time?  
  
“Your friend can come too, right Jongin.” Sehun glanced at his friend, who nodded. “Jongin is sorry how rude he was before.”  
  
“Party? With him?” Chanyeol crossed his arms, shooting Jongin an angry look.  
  
“There will be booze and um, well, fun?” Sehun offered. “Plus you need to celebrate passing your math final.”  
  
Math final. Ah, yes, there was that. Kyungsoo blurted out an answer for both of them. “We will be there.” Even if he had to go to Jongin’s house, he would if Sehun invited him. Because wow – Oh Sehun had just invited him to a party. A social thing, which he would normally hate, but social things with Sehun, well – that was different than normal non-Sehun social things.  
  
“Great. See you tomorrow, and thanks for coming again.” Sehun and Jongin were gone in a flash.  
  
“Did you just tell sex on legs that I would go to that jerk’s party?” Chanyeol was not happy.  
  
“You can pee in his drink, just please – come with me. I don’t want to go alone,” Kyungsoo pleaded. There was no way he would survive attending a party without one of his friends there. He was already awkward, how could he deal with hanging out with a bunch of popular kids alone? He couldn’t, that was the answer. Chanyeol had to take mercy on him.  
  
“Will you give me your fire wand plus seven?” Chanyeol drove a hard bargain. Kyungsoo loved that wand. It was his go to wand during dungeons and dragons.  
  
“You can’t even use the wand.” Kyungsoo answered through gritted teeth. “Your character class won’t let you.”  
  
“But I can sell it,” Chanyeol said matter-of-factly.  
  
“Fine.”  
  
“Deal.” Chanyeol extended his hand, Kyungsoo shaking on it. He would really miss that wand.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Two weeks passed quickly. Long tutoring sessions, bubble tea and more bubble tea (Kyungsoo had given up pretending he drank coffee), chats about movies, and late night texts filling Kyungsoo’s days. A part of him felt like everything was unreal. Completely unexpected, the friendship he had struck up with the boy he had been staring at for countless weeks, never thinking he stood a chance at forming any kind of relationship with him – platonic or otherwise.  
  
Sehun had turned out to be completely unexpected. He wasn’t the popular, jerk of a jock that Kyungsoo may have once thought he was. He was smart, sporty, sure – but he had a side of him that liked talking about social issues and history and contemplating the darker side of life that Kyungsoo thrived on. Sehun was…more attractive by the day.  
  
Kyungsoo’s crush hit an all-time high on the day of his math final when he pulled a note from his locker, a handwritten letter cheering him on, signed by Oh Sehun. If he was alone he would have clutched the thing to his heart, if he was an anime character hearts would have been in his eyes as his head hit the ceiling – he was certain of that. Instead he hid a smile, folding the piece of paper he slipped it into his front pocket, ready to face his fate.  
  
The bad thing about his math final – other than the fact it was a math final – was that it meant his tutoring sessions with Sehun would end. There would be no need to meet each other nearly every day after school to go over problems. The reality of this change had been eating at Kyungsoo, but he tried to push such thoughts away. I am his friend now, he thought, we can still hang out. It will be okay. He even invited me to a party.  
  
Kyungsoo wasn’t sure if he was more terrified of the party or of the math final once he started contemplating the fact that in ten hours or so he would be at Jongin’s house, with…people. Sucking up his party anxiety he went back to his math final anxiety, walking so slowly into Mrs. Oh’s classroom he was pretty sure a turtle would have gotten to his desk faster.  
  
“Will you look at that, the math superstar decided to show up.” Baekhyun teased him as he passed, earning a death look from Kyungsoo.  
  
“Well if I had his motivation to learn...” Jongdae mimed a wistful longing gaze directed at the infamous window.  
  
The window. He most definitely could not look out the window today. No, the window was a bad idea. Even if he knew all of the answers, the window would kill his brain, turning it into Oh Sehun trash. No window, no window, no window. It became Kyungsoo’s mantra as he observed Mrs. Oh pass out the final tests. When she reached Kyungsoo’s desk she flashed a small smile, Kyungsoo debated if it was supposed to be reassuring or scare the crap out of him. If he failed the final what would that tell Mrs. Oh about her son’s worth as a tutor? Another reason not to fail.  
  
When Mrs. Oh announced the test would begin, Kyungsoo held his pencil in a vice grip, staring at the first problem. Much to his relief he found he knew the formula, calculating the answer he completed the problem and moved onto the next one. Again, he knew the calculation. By the time he was halfway through the test he was starting to feel like he would definitely pass, assuming he was applying the formulas correctly. He chanced a glance at the clock, realizing he was making great time.  
  
On the way back to staring at his paper his eyes lingered for a moment too long on the window, catching sight of a gym class out on the field. Old habits die hard, Kyungsoo found, as he strained to get a look of a certain tall, lanky man with amazing shoulders.  
  
“Eyes on your paper, Mr. Do.”  
  
Kyungsoo choked back a gasp at being caught staring- or almost staring – he hadn’t exactly found Sehun among the group of boys gathered on the field. He returned his attention to his paper, not daring to set Mrs. Oh off again.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“Do you think that guy is checking me out?” Chanyeol leaned in, whispering as he nodded towards a middle aged guy sitting a few seats away on the subway.  
  
Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “No.”  
  
“Oh, just checking.” Chanyeol was fidgeting, adjusting and readjusting his ridiculously tight outfit that had Kyungsoo side eying him all the way to the subway station. Chanyeol had explained away his obvious attempts at looking sexy as “what if my future husband is at the party? Do you want me to miss out on my soulmate”?! Kyungsoo had, true to form, dressed simply – earning another scolding from Chanyeol on missed opportunities to lure in Oh Sehun.  
  
Kyungsoo wasn’t intent on luring anyone at that point, he only wanted to survive the rare socialization he was about to undertake. After he had finished his math final, breezing through two other finals he felt extremely confident in, he focused all of his worry on what may or may not happen at the party that night. A dozen different scenarios had played through his head- Sehun ignoring him, Jongin being an ass, Chanyeol accidently setting the place on fire – and each one turned him into a bigger ball of nerves. At this point he just wanted to get the damn thing over with and go back to hanging out in cafés with Sehun.  
  
Kim Jongin’s family had money. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo discovered that reality as they stared up at the most expensive apartment building they had ever had reason to enter. They slightly panicked at the thought as they took the elevator to the top floor, Chanyeol repeating over and over, “Holy shit he lives in a penthouse. That asshole lives in a penthouse.”  
  
“His parents live in a penthouse,” Kyungsoo corrected him.  
  
“And he lives with them. IN.A.PENTHOUSE.” Chanyeol had stumbled from the elevator when it dinged at the top floor, pulling Kyungsoo after him. “I hate him more now.”  
  
Jongin answered the door, not looking particularly happy to see either of them there. The sound of music, a hip hop song Kyungsoo had never heard before, blared from within. It sounded like the party was in full swing, laughter and the din of chatter loud as the two unpopular kids walked into the first penthouse they had ever had chance to visit. Jongin didn’t bother to tell them where Sehun was or where they could find food or a drink – he shut the door and walked back to the party, leaving the pair to stand awkwardly in the entryway.  
  
Chanyeol grabbed Kyungsoo’s wrist and charged ahead, Kyungsoo considering that the mere sight of Jongin likely incited some kind of competitive anger in Chanyeol that had the very real possibility of turning into a giant cluster fuck as the night progressed.  
  
The living room – if it could be called that- it was bigger than any living room Kyungsoo had ever been in – was playing host to almost every popular kid Kyungsoo could name off and several he had never seen before. It was like walking into a nightmare, snobby and judgmental stares intermixed with a whisper here and there as Chanyeol forged his way into the middle of the room.  
  
“Soo!”  
  
Oh thank god, Kyungsoo mentally praised every higher being he could name when he caught sight of Sehun walking into the room, plastic cup in hand. “Did you get here okay?”  
  
Kyungsoo nodded, fighting a smile that could be misconstrued as…well, something he didn’t want to explain. Sehun sauntered up, carefree and at ease as he asked if he wanted something to drink. One of the plethora of Kyungsoo’s imagined scenarios flashed before him at the question, the one where he had a few sips of alcohol and got so drunk he peed on the floor in front of everyone. He had never really drank in his long seventeen years of life and had no idea how he would handle it.  
  
“Yaasss. The stronger the better!” Chanyeol answered for him, Kyungsoo wanted to slap the silly grin off of his friend’s face. Chanyeol had never drank before either, so he was completely and totally talking out of his ass at the moment.  
  
“Follow me.” Sehun winked, Kyungsoo paling as he made damn sure his body obeyed and he walked after Sehun. As they left the room a few people who Kyungsoo recognized but would never normally speak to said hello to Sehun, not bothering to give Kyungsoo or Chanyeol the time of day. How…expected.  
  
The liquor and beer were stacked up in the kitchen, Chanyeol’s eyes going wide at the sight. “How did you guys get so much booze?”  
  
“Jongin’s family maid is cool,” Sehun replied casually.  
  
“He has a maid!” Chanyeol exclaimed, grabbing at a bottle of liquor and examining the label. “A booze buying maid – man, that is the life.”  
  
Sehun chuckled, turning his attention to Kyungsoo. “What do you want to drink?”  
  
“Um.” Kyungsoo eyed up the tower of alcoholic options, not knowing one label from another. “Something not strong?”  
  
“Are you sure? You have reason to celebrate.” Sehun playfully pushed at Kyungsoo’s arm. “You passed your math final.”  
  
Kyungsoo stilled. How did Sehun know? The grades wouldn’t be announced until – oh. OH. His mother must have told him. Despite the entire situation likely being a breach of some kind of teacher conduct, Kyungsoo didn’t feel angry. He felt damn proud and happy and “I did?!”  
  
“Hm.” Sehun looked as happy as Kyungsoo felt. “I knew you could do it.”  
  
Kyungsoo wasn’t ready for it, not mentally or physically prepared when Sehun bridged the gap between them, pulling him into a crushing hug. “Good job,” he whispered into Kyungsoo’s ear.  
  
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. I am right here.” Chanyeol of course had to make the situation more embarrassing than it already was. Kyungsoo struggled out of the hug, Sehun letting him go easily.  
  
“You want a hug too?” Sehun teased, Chanyeol vehemently denying he wanted anything of the sort.  
  
Kyungsoo didn’t bother to argue about the drink that Sehun ended up making him, even if it tasted kind of nasty and made his mouth tingle as he took a sip. He was too happy – he had passed. He had passed that accursed class and in the process had gotten to know sex on legs, he meant Oh Sehun. He had gotten to know Oh Sehun.  
  
Drink in hand, Kyungsoo followed after Sehun as he walked back to the mix of the party. The feeling of not belonging intensified when Sehun was roped into a conversation with one of his fellow football players, leaving Kyungsoo to sit next to Chanyeol.  
  
“Is that guy checking me out?” Chanyeol nudged Kyungsoo, motioning towards one of the full backs from the school football team. Kyungsoo considered the question. The boy looked drunk, face flushed, all big movements and raised voice. He looked drunk but not even mildly interested in Chanyeol. “No.”  
  
“Oh, I thought…hm…must have been wrong.” Chanyeol took a big drink out of his cup, smacking his lips together as he swallowed. “This is the life, huh Soo?”  
  
Kyungsoo stared down at his drink; maybe if he drank more the party would be palpable. He took a big swig, flinching at the burn. Alcohol tasted horrible, he thought, not understanding why anyone willingly drank it.  
  
“We should drink next time we play D&D. I bet it would be funner that way,” Chanyeol mused, finishing off his drink.  
  
“Funner is not a word.” Kyungsoo followed his friend’s precedence, taking another big swig himself.  
  
“It could be.” Chanyeol started drumming his fingers on the leather sofa, looking around the room. “Should I go mingle? We should go mingle.”  
  
“I don’t want to mingle.”  
  
“I want to mingle.”  
  
“Chanyeol, don’t do something you will regret.” Kyungsoo flashed back to second grade when Chanyeol had thought that climbing the tallest tree on school grounds was something he should do – his doctor and a broken leg wholeheartedly disagreed with his judgement. Or that time in sixth grade when Chanyeol thought stealing the class hamster was also something he should do. His parents and teacher disagreed. Between second guessing his friend and feeling out of place Kyungsoo chanced glances at Sehun, noticing how happy he looked joking and talking with his friends. Not popular, my ass.  
  
“Fine. I will wait until the people come to me,” Chanyeol conceded.  
  
Kyungsoo caught sight of Jongin walking across the room, stopping behind Sehun and rather purposefully wrapping his hands around Sehun’s waist. Kyungsoo bristled, watching the affection between the friends. Was he jealous? He shouldn’t be jealous. They were best friends, best friends showed affection all the time. And then Jongin turned towards Kyungsoo, making eye contact as he pulled Sehun into a tighter back hug.  
  
That was it. Kyungsoo didn’t want to look anymore. He suddenly found the contents of his cup more interesting than staring at Sehun. He could look away, but he couldn’t help but listen, thanks to the way Jongin was practically screaming out his words. “Sehun, your friends look bored. We should play a game.”  
  
“Game?” Kyungsoo heard Sehun ask.  
  
Chanyeol heard as well, barking out a response immediately– Kyungsoo realizing he must already be feeling the effects of the alcohol. “Does anyone have Dance Dance Revolution?”  
  
Kyungsoo wanted to die right then and there. If Chanyeol had asked the question while hanging out with their group of friends after a day of gaming it would result in light teasing and probably end in an actual session with the dance pad Baekhyun kept tucked away for such stupid times. But this…this…was a party in a penthouse where a maid worked and popular kids went to get drunk and gossip and do secret popular kid stuff and …  
  
“Yeah, I do. You wanna go?” Jongin stepped forward, breaking his handsy show with Sehun, issuing a challenge to Chanyeol.  
  
“If you don’t mind losing, jerk face.” Chanyeol stood up, hands on hips, doing his best to once again look taller than he already was.  
  
“Bring it.” Jongin mimed Chanyeol’s stance, staring him down. Half of the room stopped talking, interested in the sudden show in front of them. Kyungsoo remained quiet, fighting abject horror as Jongin fetched the game pad and fiddled with the largest television that Kyungsoo had ever seen in his life. The music was turned down, as Jongin started up the console.  
  
Kyungsoo took another sip of his drink, feeling a tad bit lightheaded from the alcohol. Still, he was nowhere near feeling drunk– he was pretty sure if he was drunk he wouldn’t be as terrified of what was about to happen as he was.  
  
“I can’t believe they are doing this.” Sehun plopped down next to Kyungsoo, taking the place Chanyeol had vacated.  
  
“Me neither.” Kyungsoo felt some relief at having Sehun next to him. He starting to feel relaxed as he watched Jongin scroll through the song selections.  
  
“Our friends are idiots.”  
  
“Agreed.” Kyungsoo took another drink, finishing off the cup. Sehun noticed, reaching over- a bit closer than Kyungsoo found comfortable – and tapping the side of the cup. “Need a refill before the show starts?”  
  
“Sure.” Kyungsoo let Sehun take his cup and disappear back towards the kitchen. Five minutes later he regretted agreeing to a refill- Sehun was stopped on his way back by another football player and ended up standing across the room, two drinks in hand, seeming to forget Kyungsoo’s existence as he watched Jongin and Chanyeol duel off in one of the most ridiculous matches he had ever seen.  
  
Jongin was really good at Dance Dance Revolution, so was Chanyeol. What made the entire situation bizarrely humorous aside from the basic premise of two teenagers having a “who’s bigger” fight over a dance game was the way they glared and made eyes at each other, acting like they were in a high-end dance club with a fortune at stake. It was ridiculously exaggerated movements and challenges, Kyungsoo drowning in second hand embarrassment as Chanyeol wagged his finger at Jongin when his turn was up.  
  
When a drunk girl sat down next to him, spilling part of her drink on Kyungsoo’s lap, he found himself nearing the end of his ability to deal with the situation. “Who invited you?” She slurred her question, Kyungsoo only realizing what she was asking him after thirty seconds of staring at her and mentally deciphering her words.  
  
“Sehun,” Kyungsoo answered quietly, turning back to watch the game.  
  
The girl leaned over like she wanted to say something else, instead she ended up spilling the rest of her drink on Kyungsoo. Grimacing as he felt the liquor dripping down his pants – how would he hide the smell from his parents – he stood up. Shooting the girl a dirty look, ignoring her subsequent laughter, he made his way for a bathroom to clean himself up as best as he could. The only problem was that he wasn’t quite sure where the bathroom was.  
  
He guessed the restroom must be down the hallway opposite the way to the kitchen, judging by the foot traffic he had witnessed. Yet in a place this big there were probably half a dozen bathrooms, and bedrooms and maybe a study and a formal dining room and – Kyungsoo was lost. He walked down the long hall, opening the first door he saw. It turned out not to be a bathroom, yet he entered the room nonetheless; a wall of windows with the most amazing view of the city he had ever seen drew him in.  
  
Kyungsoo knew Jongin would probably eat him alive for wandering around his house, but he couldn’t help it. The view was too breathtaking, he wanted to see it up close for once. Thankfully he didn’t trip over any furniture as he made his way to the window. He pressed his hands to the glass and leaned forward to get a good look at the city before him. When the door behind him opened he stilled for a moment, afraid of who it could be.  
  
“There you are.” It was Sehun, a familiar and welcoming voice. It was Sehun...and they were alone in a dark room. Shit.  
  
Kyungsoo whirled around. “Sorry, I was looking for the bathroom.”  
  
“The view is nice, huh?” Sehun walked to stand next to him.  
  
“Yeah, it is.” Kyungsoo relaxed slightly as Sehun remained still, at least an arm’s length away.  
  
“Soo, thanks for coming.”  
  
“No problem.” Kyungsoo tucked his hands into his jean pockets, rocking his weight on the balls of his feet.  
  
“I actually wanted to talk to you about something.” Sehun sounded worried, nervous perhaps, which made Kyungsoo nervous. He waited for Sehun to continue, a few tense seconds passing before the younger man spoke again. “Well, I don’t know how to say this and honestly I may just be half drunk and you need to forget this tomorrow. I …might like you.”  
  
Kyungsoo couldn’t hide the way his eyes widened, the lights from the city filtering in through the wide windows, bathing the both of them in a low blaze of red and yellow and neon colors. “You…like me? How?” No, the correct question was, “Why?”  
  
“If you don’t um..like guys or if-“  
  
Kyungsoo had never been this bold in his entire life. He liked to play it safe, to hang back and be quiet when his three friends made a ruckus. He liked to spend nights alone watching movies or reading on his phone. He liked to do things as unobtrusively as possible - yet somehow safe seemed like such a frivolous word at the moment. Sehun liked him. Sehun had said he liked him. He moved, an awkward set of motions that had him wrapping his arms around Sehun’s neck so he could pull the younger man down, pressing their lips together.  
  
Sehun was slow to respond, probably shocked, Kyungsoo later thought. Their lips stayed pressed together, chastely, for a good thirty seconds before Sehun responded. When he did Kyungsoo felt like his body was on fire, the heat pooling in his stomach as he felt a pair of well-defined arms wrap around his waist. A nip to his bottom lip had him fighting a moan. He followed Sehun’s lead, parting his lips he gasped as their mouths slotted together.  
  
The feeling of his sweatshirt being lifted was next, Sehun running his hands up the smaller man’s torso. Kyungsoo didn’t feel shy at the contact, only needy. Needy in a way he had never felt in his life, even when he stared after a boy he never thought he would speak to or laugh with or…kiss. He was needy as the realization hit him that it wasn’t some unrequited stupid crush that could never be- it was mutual attraction. Sehun wanted to kiss him. Sehun WAS kissing him.  
  
“Is this okay?” Sehun broke the kiss first, panting, his breath ghosting over Kyungsoo’s cheek.  
  
“Yeah.” Kyungsoo’s voice was raspy. He was catching his own breath when Sehun leaned in for more. The cityscape was their backdrop as Sehun gently moved forward, Kyungsoo finding his back hitting the window. The cool temperature of the window sent a shiver down his spine, a momentary sense of cold quickly replaced with an ever growing heat. Sehun was an amazing kisser, all tongue and teeth working in tandem, seductively nibbling and licking as Kyungsoo lost himself to the sensation.  
  
Their bodies met, Sehun pressing forward until there was no space between them. Kyungsoo could feel Sehun harden against him, their uneven heights resulting in Sehun’s hips and pelvis pressing into Kyungsoo’s tummy. It was a strange sensation, but not an unwelcome one – after all, his body was responding in turn. Kyungsoo could feel his dick harden as Sehun’s hands tightened their grip on his waist. When the younger man dared to rut forward with his hips Kyungsoo thought he would die then and there.  
  
A low and throaty moan, the sounds of a party faintly filling in the gaps, urged Sehun on. Another press forward, then another had Kyungsoo pushing back, the feeling of his dick meeting the stiff fabric of his jeans, the friction of Sehun’s leg, feeling amazing. Teeth clashed as their kisses became more hurried, their movements more frantic. Sehun’s hands found Kyungsoo’s nipples, brushing over them with the pads of his thumbs he elicited a shudder from the older man.  
  
Kyungsoo didn’t have any more reservations about how far he would go and if it was welcome, he needed more. Fiddling in the near darkness he traced a finger down to the waistband of Sehun’s jeans, fingering the button languidly as he began to lick and nibble down Sehun’s neck. A pop of the button, a slow noise as Kyungsoo unzipped Sehun’s pants, and a stifled moan was his reward. Kyungsoo smiled into Sehun’s collarbone, relishing the response he was getting as he began palming the other man through his boxer shorts.  
  
“Ffff.” Sehun sputtered, going tense as Kyungsoo continued to feel his length. Kyungsoo rutted forward once, their height difference causing Kyungsoo’s erection to buck against Sehun’s thighs. Another moan and Kyungsoo became addicted to learning how many more moans he could get out of sex-on-legs. Slipping a hand into Sehun’s boxers, he traced a finger up his length. Sehun shuddered, moving his hands from Kyungsoo’s torso to his shoulders. Kyungsoo took the initiative, taking Sehun’s length full in his hand, testing, then he pumped once, then twice.  
  
Sehun swore. A curse word louder than should have been spoken given the circumstance, causing Kyungsoo to tense for a moment. Kyungsoo stilled for a moment, waiting, afraid someone had heard them. With his hand still on Sehun’s dick, he waited. And then it happened.  
  
Sehun suddenly spasmed; a hot, sticky substance coated Kyungsoo’s hand. It took him a few seconds to realize what had just happened, Sehun had cum.  
  
“Sehun!”  
  
A shout from the hallway.  
  
“Sehun! I am about to kick that nerd’s ass at the game!”  
  
Jongin. It was Jongin.  
  
“Coming.”  
  
Kyungsoo couldn’t believe it as his hold on Sehun’s rapidly softening dick was detached, the younger man backing away. “I…I…” Sehun stuttered, not bothering to look Kyungsoo in the eyes.  
  
He what? Kyungsoo had no idea, too baffled by everything going on to fully realize that Sehun was stuffing his dick back in his pants, righting his clothing, and rushing out the door. Not until he was alone, standing in the light of the city scape, did he realize what had happened. His hand was full of cum, his dick was hard, his pants were stained by a full glass of booze thanks to Miss Drinks-a-lot and he hated everything and everyone in the world.  
  
Kyungsoo didn’t think twice – he wiped his cum-covered hand on the carpeting (largely to piss off Jongin), found a bathroom, cleaned up as best as he could, and left. One look at Chanyeol high fiving half the room and laughing boisterously and he knew that his friend would be fine getting home alone. But would he? Would he be fine?  
  
A weekend spent watching depressing movies and crying told him that no, he probably was not going to be fine.


	3. Chapter 3

“So - lucky night, huh?” Baekhyun wiggled his eyebrows as soon as Kyungsoo and Chanyeol sat down at the lunch table, Kyungsoo’s chest tightening at the words. How did he know? How could he possibly know? Byun Baekhyun that punk.  
  
“If you got some then man – I should have gone. I could have had half the party.” Jongdae took a bite of his apple, talking with his mouth full. “What a waste.”  
  
“Shut up, Jongdae.” Chanyeol’s words were barely more than a growl, his expression dark and serious.  
  
“Oh. Was I not supposed to talk about-“  
  
“It wasn’t a big deal!” Kyungsoo blurted out, his face turning red. Baekhyun gave him a curious look.  
  
‘Wait, how do you know about it?” Chanyeol turned a 180 in his seat, facing Kyungsoo with shock.  
  
“I .. well.” Kyungsoo began panicking. “Was ther-“  
  
“YOU SAW US! I THOUGHT YOU LEFT!” Chanyeol looked terrified, all blood draining from his face.  
  
“Wait, what?” Kyungsoo was beyond confused. Saw..who…what?  
  
“How big is he? Does Mr. Quarterback have a small dick?” Jongdae leaned forward, toying with the apple in his hands.  
  
Mr. Quarterback? As in Jongin…no…Kyungsoo couldn’t believe it. Did he mean…  
  
“You watched?” Chanyeol ignored Jongdae’s rude question, his blown pupils fixated on Kyungsoo.  
  
“I didn’t watch anything.” Kyungsoo protested the accusation.  
  
“Then what are you talking about?” Baekhyun challenged. God damn Baekhyun, far too perceptive for his own good.  
  
“Nothing.” Kyungsoo kept his lips sealed.  
  
“Nooooo. You?” Chanyeol gasped, nudging Kyungsoo hard. “You and sex-on-legs?!”  
  
Kyungsoo focused on his sandwich, taking an angry and hurried bite.  
  
“How big is he?” Baekhyun asked, smirking.  
  
“I cannot believe you two made out with the two most popular football players in school.” Jongdae groaned. “I feel sick.”  
  
“Is that why you left without me?” Chanyeol sounded slightly worried. “Did he hurt you?”  
  
“NO!” Kyungsoo didn’t want to say, “He didn’t hurt me, he came on my hand and then acted like I disgusted him so I ran home like a weepy little baby”.  
  
“Wow. Just wow. I…” Chanyeol was perplexed. “You won the freaking lottery.”  
  
“Can we talk about something else?” Kyungsoo couldn’t stand another second spent discussing what happened at the party. Thankfully Baekhyun, for all of his inappropriate and teasing comments, could pick up on when enough was enough. He threw out his deck of magic cards. “Now let’s talk about something really interesting, boys.”  
  
It did the trick.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Oh Sehun was an enemy. Oh Sehun hadn’t called, texted, or acknowledged Kyungsoo for six days. He hadn’t said anything, texted anything, or made any attempt to contact Kyungsoo whatsoever. Kyungsoo was pissed.  
  
Oh Sehun, it seemed, was as big of an asshole as his friend Jongin. Except, of course, because the world hated Kyungsoo, Kim Jongin was quickly becoming quite the revered person in his circle of friends.  
  
“Do you call him jerk face when you jack him off?” Kyungsoo didn’t really regret saying it, not after having to face almost a week of hating himself and everything else in the world while having Chanyeol talk about how suddenly happy he was. How in the hell Kim Jongin and Park Chanyeol ended up Frenching after a Dance Dance Revolution bloodbath was beyond Kyungsoo, but honestly he didn’t care to learn more about the situation, not when the junior that came all over his hand was currently ignoring his existence.  
  
“Dude, I will have you know I like him now.” Chanyeol puffed out his chest, having just finished his third “Kim Jongin is so cool” tangent of the day.  
  
“I think he is an ass.” Kyungsoo said it in his most biting tone, rolling the ten sided dice as Jongdae scowled.  
  
“Can we focus on the dragon or are you two going to parade your blue balls and used balls all over my game?” Jongdae stared over his dungeon master screen, clearly annoyed.  
  
“I didn’t pass the roll.” Kyungsoo leaned back in the dining room chair, a solid one on the dice before him, regretting that he thought a night of D&D would put him in a better mood. He had been just as bitter sitting in Chanyeol’s dining room as he had been sulking at home. At least at home he didn’t have friends to piss him off or annoying Jongin-is-so-great rants to listen to.  
  
“15 damage.” Jongdae checked his notes before asking, “What do you want to do?”  
  
“Lay down and die.” Kyungsoo pushed the die across the table. “Let him kill me.”  
  
“No!” Jongdae, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol yelled in unison, launching into a disjointed, tandem slew of words regarding how insane Kyungsoo was being.  
  
“You want to commit suicide by dragon?”  
  
“Soo, you are level 12! LEVEL FUCKING 12!”  
  
“What about the magic college you want to found? WHAT ABOUT THE MAGIC STUDENTS!”  
  
Kyungsoo pushed his chair back, standing. “Let the dragon eat me.” He grabbed his sweatshirt off the back of the chair, throwing it on he didn’t bother to look back as he said goodbye.  
  
“He has gone mad.” Chanyeol watched Kyungsoo go, Baekhyun and Jongdae agreeing wholeheartedly with Chanyeol’s statement.  
  
  
  
  
  
Kyungsoo spent another week sulking, spending his evenings wondering if voodoo dolls actually worked and how much it would cost to order one in the form of Oh Sehun. Another week spent hating life and wondering why he was so stupid he thought sex on legs- OH SEHUN HE MEANT OH SEHUN- was ever attractive. He spent another week glaring and being distant and keeping his friends at arm’s length. He spent another week without Oh Sehun, before he reappeared. Thirteen days- it had been thirteen days since the party, thirteen days since Kyungsoo was plunged into utter depression. Thirteen days and four simple words.  
  
“How have you been?”  
  
Kyungsoo had thought that the school library was a safe place- a friend and Oh Sehun free zone- but apparently he was wrong judging by the tall football player staring down at him as he sat studying.  
  
Did the question deserve an answer? Kyungsoo stared up at Sehun blankly.  
  
“Can we talk? Please. I know I don’t have a right to ask, but please, meet me on the field?”  
  
Kyungsoo hated that Sehun still got to him, that the way he asked so genuinely still tugged at his heart, that the way he seemed oddly shy about the entire stilted conversation interested him. He hated it but he went, packing up his books and trudging out to the playing fields, basking in the irony of meeting Sehun at the exact place where he used to ogle him from afar.  
  
Sehun was sitting on the bleachers, his head in his hands, when Kyungsoo arrived. When he heard the older boy walk up the bleachers, the metal clanking against his shoes, Sehun looked up. He was all wide eyes and cautious movements, scooting over as Kyungsoo sat a few feet from him.  
  
“What do you want?” Kyungsoo stared towards the field, not giving Sehun the pleasure or the punishment of eye contact.  
  
“Sorry, I am so, so sorry.” Sehun was rambling and Kyungsoo let him, not bothering to show his emotions one way or another as the younger boy spoke. “I was scared and it was my first time and I shouldn’t have left you in the room and you have no idea how much I like you and...”  
  
Kyungsoo didn’t say a word. Clasping his hands together he stared straight ahead.  
  
“I am embarrassed! Fuck Soo, I don’t want you to think I am a minute man!”  
  
That was it. That was the last straw. Kyungsoo burst out laughing, his body wracked with mirth as he nearly doubled over. Was that it? Seriously?  
  
“I swear I can go longer, I just...it was my first time and…why are you laughing?”  
  
Kyungsoo took a good minute to stop laughing, half of it manically twisted and the other half basking in the irony. So it was embarrassment? Youthful embarrassment over coming at the slightest touch? That still didn’t excuse acting like a dick. “Sehun, you are an ass.”  
  
“I know. I know. I am sorry, so sorry.” Sehun sounded genuine and that was the worst, because that gave Kyungsoo a thought to forgive him. Maybe.  
  
“Why are you telling me this? You don’t want me to spread your reputation around?” Kyungsoo turned towards the junior, taking a chance at making eye contact, feeling like he absolutely had the upper hand at the moment.  
  
“No! I...Kyungsoo I really like you and I am sorry and I hope you will give me another chance.”  
  
Who would have imagined, four months ago, six months ago, that Oh Sehun – sex on legs- would be begging him for another chance? If Kyungsoo hadn’t already filled his laughter quota for the day he would double into a ball of giggles.  
  
“Please. I will make it up to you, I promise.” Sehun was begging, definitely begging, stopping short of grabbing a hold of Kyungsoo’s arm and pleading like a small child.  
  
“I will think about it.” Kyungsoo stood up, enjoying the fact Sehun was panicking. He deserved it. Without another word he walked down the bleachers, leaving the younger boy to pout and brood and hopefully feel an ounce of what Kyungsoo had been feeling over the last couple of weeks.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“Jongin said Sehun is going crazy.” Chanyeol, arms crossed, was leaning against Kyungsoo’s locker.  
  
“And?” Kyungsoo opened his locker, Chanyeol awkwardly dodging the metal door.  
  
“Are you going to forgive him?” Chanyeol peeked over the locker door.  
  
“I am thinking about it.” Kyungsoo was, in all honesty, planning on forgiving the asshole eventually. He just wanted the junior to have a big taste of his own medicine, a week of feeling like shit before he was shown any mercy – so far it had been two days since Sehun’s apology. “Aren’t you my friend, why do you care if I forgive Sehun?”  
  
“Jongin is upset.” Chanyeol whined, Kyungsoo having to hold back from throwing up in his mouth. Chanyeol was unequivocally smitten. “He said Sehun won’t even eat.”  
  
“I am sure he won’t starve to death.” Kyungsoo slammed his locker shut, staring up at his friend he sighed. “You do realize he ignored me for two weeks?”  
  
“Jongin says he really likes you.” Chanyeol grabbed Kyungsoo’s arm, tugging on it. “Puh-lease…for me.”  
  
“Did Jongin buy you a collar to go with that leash?” Kyungsoo deadpanned, yanking his arm away.  
  
“NO!” Chanyeol yelled, Kyungsoo ignoring him. Sehun would need to wait, at least for a few more days.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A few more days turned out to be approximately twelve hours. Later Kyungsoo would remember the moment fondly - at the time it was happening he was fighting back the need to slap Sehun in the face for acting the way he did.  
  
Kyungsoo had just sat down at the dinner table, his father taking his seat at the head of the table, newspaper in hand. They were having spaghetti. Kyungsoo hated spaghetti but knew better than to argue with his mother about the meal. He would choke down what he could and fill himself up on garlic bread.  
  
The door buzzer sounded loudly, Kyungsoo casting a cursory glance towards the front door.  
  
“I’ll get it!” His little sister rushed towards the door, Kyungsoo went back to picking at the pasta dish in front of him.  
  
“Who would drop by at dinner time? How rude.” Kyungsoo’s mother set a bowl of salad on the table, taking her seat.  
  
“Mom, there is some strange guy at the door playing music!”  
  
“What?!” His mother stood, wiping her hands on her apron she walked over to the front door. Kyungsoo’s father remained seated with his newspaper in hand, a customary reaction from someone who normally left everything in the house to anyone but himself.  
  
Kyungsoo froze when his mother pressed the speaker button, the sounds of a music coming from outside the door. A somewhat familiar song, he had heard it before-  
  
“Who are you?” His mother asked, clearly annoyed.  
  
“Is Um. Sorry to bother you, is Kyungsoo home?”  
  
It was Sehun. Shit. Kyungsoo stood up quickly, his chair probably scratching the hardwood floors as he darted towards the door. “I’ll get it.” He tried to shoo his mother and sister away to no avail; their curiosity had been peeked.  
  
“Is that your boyfriend?” his sister asked, while his mother watched with a mixture of interest and shock.  
  
Kyungsoo wasn’t going to answer the question. He opened the door just enough so he could slip through, shutting it tightly as he entered the hallway. He grabbed Sehun’s arm, dragging him out of the range of the camera.  
  
Sehun was holding his cell phone, a sappy song playing as he held the thing aloft despite being dragged several feet away.  
  
 _love I get so lost, sometimes  
  
days pass and this emptiness fills my heart  
  
when I want to run away  
  
I drive off in my car  
  
but whichever way I go  
  
I come back to the place you are_  
  
“Are you seriously playing Peter Gabriel ‘In Your Eyes’ outside of my house?!” Kyungsoo flashed back to the movie he had watched a long time ago, when the lovesick guy in the film had done the same thing. When had Sehun even seen that movie and in what universe was that a good idea?  
  
“I..maybe?” Sehun answered timidly, still holding the cell phone aloft.  
  
“Shut it off! You are going to piss off the neighbors!” Kyungsoo demanded. He would have tried to snatch the thing away and turn it off himself but there was no way he could reach the phone that Sehun was holding over his head.  
  
“Now!” Kyungsoo stomped his foot down, Sehun getting the message and shutting the music off.  
  
A few seconds of silence passed – Kyungsoo glaring at Sehun and Sehun looking like someone had just kicked a puppy.  
  
“I am so, so, so sorry, Soo.” Sehun shoved his phone in his pocket, clasping his hands together he stared at the floor. “I…please. I, please. I am going crazy. I need you.”  
  
“You need me?” Kyungsoo quirked an eyebrow. “If you need me then why did you come all over my hand and run off to watch Jongidiot and his boy-toy play dance games?!”  
  
“I said I was sorry!” Sehun pleaded.  
  
Kyungsoo shut his eyes, counting to ten. If he told Sehun to go home would the boy show up again playing love songs outside his house? If he told Sehun he wouldn’t forgive him would he end up sulking for a few days and find someone else. Options…options.  
  
“Soo, I am serious, I feel like shit for hurting you.”  
  
Kyungsoo snapped his eyes open, knowing he couldn’t take another round of his mother and sister discovering what a lovesick fool he had waiting for him.  
  
“If you ever come on me again and rush out to watch a Dance Dance Revolution face off I will castrate you.” Kyungsoo stared him down, not joking.  
  
“I won’t!”  
  
“You also probably owe Jongin a carpet cleaning fee.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Are we dating now?” Kyungsoo wasn’t going to explain the carpet cleaning comment, not when he wanted to hear it from Sehun’s mouth- that he was serious. He decided to plunge into this, whatever this was, and now he needed to hear it.  
  
“If you will have me.” Sehun looked like a lost puppy, pursing his lips and staring.  
  
Kyungsoo exhaled, purposefully, watching Sehun squirm as the silence continued. He finally doled out mercy. “I guess, I don’t really have anything else going on.”  
  
Sehun pushed at Kyungsoo, a huge grin overtaking him as he pulled the older man into a kiss.  
  
“Not here!” Kyungsoo pushed him away.  
  
“Sorry.” Sehun was smiling the biggest smile that Kyungsoo had ever seen him flash.  
  
“I’ll text you.” Kyungsoo pushed Sehun towards the elevator. “I need to go explain to my mom why some lovesick moron was outside our door playing a Peter Gabriel song and asking for her son.”  
  
“Sorry.” Sehun went back to pouting, yet this time he wasn’t completely downtrodden, a hint of a smile played on his lips.  
  
“I forgive you but don’t do it again. Any of it.” Kyungsoo sighed.  
  
“I won’t.” Sehun promised. “I won’t.”  
  
  
  
  
  
“Don’t you feel naughty having boyfriends who are still in high school?” Chanyeol wiggled his eyebrows, throwing another handful of popcorn into his mouth.  
  
“They are eighteen.” Kyungsoo corrected Chanyeol’s naughty insinuations, grabbing his own handful of popcorn. “It isn’t like we are dating freshman.”  
  
“Thank god, that would be a mess.” Chanyeol laughed, popcorn falling out of his mouth. “There he is!”  
  
Kyungsoo leaned against the fence post, waiting as he ignored Chanyeol’s exuberant greeting. “Jongin!”  
  
Kyungsoo wasn’t distracted by the fact that Jongin was striding towards Chanyeol, football helmet in hand, and goofy smile on his face to match that of his boyfriend. He wasn’t distracted by it because he was too busy watching sex on legs stride towards him, the smallest of smile playing on his lips as tossed his helmet aside.  
  
“Hey.” Sehun was always about causal greetings, small waves and nods and Kyungsoo appreciated that fact, just like he appreciated the way Sehun texted him good night every night without fail. Their lives weren’t perfect, they sometimes went days without seeing each other– Kyungsoo’s college classes and Sehun’s senior year wreaking havoc on their dating life. In another six months they would both be at the same college, Sehun taking a scholarship at the prestigious university Kyungsoo was attending. He had sworn that his reason for accepting the scholarship had no relation to Kyungsoo attending the school, but it didn’t really matter. It was a good school and honestly the situation would make things so much easier.  
  
It was no real surprise when Jongin accepted a football scholarship to the same university as well, Chanyeol attending alongside Kyungsoo thanks to a last semester cram school that his parents forced him into. Sometimes, when Kyungsoo wasn’t yelling at Chanyeol for being so messy and leaving their dorm room a disaster zone, he appreciated the way they could still be together even in college. Baekhyun and Jongdae were close as well, taking classes at a community college half a mile away from Kyungsoo and Chanyeol’s school.  
  
“You were great tonight.” Kyungsoo flashed a thumbs up, Sehun and the team having won the game.  
  
“You wanna go for a walk?” Sehun grabbed at Kyungsoo’s hand, the older man letting his hands be encased in the younger man’s larger hands.  
  
They wandered away from the field, towards the academic buildings, leaving Jongin and Chanyeol to their own bizarre devices (Kyungsoo was not about to recall how many times he had caught the two of them verbally sparring and then kissing within the span of a minute or two).  
  
“How are classes going?” Sehun squeezed Kyungsoo’s hand, walking slowly, leaning in to the shorter man as they traversed the green space.  
  
“Good.” Kyungsoo paused for a moment, holding Sehun back as he caught sight of a familiar window. Sehun followed Kyungsoo’s gaze, staring up at the window.  
  
“I used to look at you out that window.”  
  
“I know.”  
  
It was strange, after over a year of dating they had never discussed the infamous window. “That is why you were failing.” Sehun squeezed Kyungsoo’s hand harder, as if he was willing away any regret.  
  
“You knew?!” Kyungsoo whirled around, hand still securely held by Sehun.  
  
“Maybe.” Sehun smirked.  
  
“Then….why?” The question was obvious, Kyungsoo didn’t have to elaborate. He meant why – why would you want to be friends if you knew, why didn’t you say anything, and more importantly, why did you never act creeped out.  
  
“I thought you were cute. And now…well…” Sehun pulled Kyungsoo towards him, wrapping his arms around his waist he smiled down at him. “I wanted to stare at you too, but if I did my coach would have cut my balls off.”  
  
“Always the poet.” Kyungsoo laughed.  
  
“I love you.” Sehun leaned in. “A lot.”  
  
“Hm.” Kyungsoo, the same Kyungsoo who stared out a window so much he almost failed his senior math class, had no more time for windows. He wrapped his arms around Sehun’s neck, pulling him in for a kiss. “I love you too, Sehun.”


End file.
